


Falling For The Ghost Of You

by PiperMasters



Series: Half dead [1]
Category: Danny Phantom, Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-19 07:21:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 43
Words: 109,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3601260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PiperMasters/pseuds/PiperMasters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny was once a hero. He was once loved. Then, came the lies, the betrayal, and the pain. Now Danny has been reduced to sleeping in trees and living off less than a meal every few days. He lives on the run with Liz, running from cops, agents, and the people they used to hold dear. An accidental encounter in Jump City may change all that. Or, it could make things worse. COMPLETED!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to Jump- Danny

Chapter 1- Danny

I woke up falling from a tree.

Not the best way to wake up, I'll admit. However, given the long list of terrible ways I've woken up in the past two years, it wasn't that bad. I'd take falling over cop cars, terrified screams, barking dogs, Guys In White agents, and blazing guns any day.

Then again, crashing through multiple tree branches and landing on the hard, cold Earth isn't fun either.

I didn't have the strength to move- I was just too tired. God, had it really come to this? Accepting things like this without a thought?

Honestly, yes. It had. This was my life now- sleeping out side, running away, hardly eating, always scared, always hurt, always running.

If you asked me how it happened, I wouldn't be able to tell you. I never figured out what made my loved ones turn on me, what made my friends betray me. And I still don't know why the Guys In White did what they did.

Not that it matters- it was two years ago and lasted only two weeks. But those two weeks changed my life- our lives- forever.

My name is Danny. Once, a long time ago, I was considered a hero. A 14 year old half ghost who had to save his town on a daily basis. Then again, I didn't do it alone.

Her name is Elizabeth. She's what I like to call my partner in crime. I knew her for only about 5 months before our lives fused together in a way that can't be broken. Seeing as she's my age and shares the same secret I do, friendship and teamwork was inevitable.

We were heroes together, saved my town together. We went to the same high school, had the same friends, had the same abilities. Of course, we have very different back grounds, different stories to share.

But another thing we share is the permanent place on the world's most wanted list. A spot the Guys In White got for us, based solely on the fact that they're a government funded agency and yes, Liz and I messed up a few times. Does that constitutionally warrant torture? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. Either way, that's what we got.

Sam and Tucker hadn't helped us- they're actually some of the people who helped turn us in. And as an extent, they helped the Guys In White conduct their little 'experiments'.

And even though it was only two weeks before Liz and I could escape, we were never the same.

All these thoughts went through my head as I layed on the leaf covered ground. I noticed that things were quiet... too quiet.

"Liz?" I croaked out as loud as I could, given the fact the air had been knocked out of me.

For a moment no answer came. I pushed myself up using my elbows, hissing slightly at the ache that came from my shoulder.

"Liz?" I tried again.

A twig snapped behind me and suddenly, "Why are you on the ground Danny?"

I blinked into the darkness and made out the shadow of a tall, female figure. Liz.

"I... I uhh..."

She walked over and crouched down next to me, pushing my bangs back, sisterly concern written all over her face. "You fell, didn't you?" Taking my embarrassed silence as a yes, she sarcastically began to applaud. "You're just all kinds of smooth, aren't you?"

I sat up fully and leaned onto the trunk of the tree I'd fallen from. "Yup. Mr. Smooth- that's me."

Liz sat cross-legged in front of me. "Should I take the sarcasm as 'I'm fine so I'll be snappy' or, 'I'm sore, tired, and don't wanna be social'?"

I lifted a shoulder, offering her a small smile. I just wanted to go back to sleep- judging from the color of the sky, it was still very early in the morning. And Lord, I was hungry. When was the last time I ate? Three days ago, four?

"I'll take that as hurt then." Liz said, positioning her self so she could inspect my back.

"Hurt, tired, and starving."

Liz tossed the plastic bad she's been carrying into my lap. "Good thing I got these then."

Sending her a confused look, I opened the bag. Inside was a bag of lime and vinegar potato chips, a can of trail mix, and a box of sour patch kids.

"How's you get this?" I breathed, popping open the chips.

"We're closer to a big city then we thought," Liz explained, opening the box of candy and popping one in her mouth. "Money falls, and dollar stores stay open late." She pulled the already half empty bag away from me. "Slow down," she scolded. "You're starving and so am I. But this has to last us a while. Besides, remember what happened last time you ate too fast?"

I rolled my eyes but slowed down all the same. Liz tended to be right about these things. She always does.

"By the way, Happy Valentines day." She said, eating another piece of sour candy.

"It's February 14th already?"

"18th actually, but close enough, right?"

I laughed and opened the rail mix. "Open." I commanded.

Liz grinned and leaned back on her hands, opening her mouth wide. Carefully, I laughed the M&M I had over to her mouth. With a quiet snap, her jaw closed around it and she ate it with a grin.

We did that for a few mom minutes, alternating between me tossing trail mix at Liz and her launching sour patch kids at me.

As the sky lightened, the temperature seemed to drop. I shivered slightly and pulled my thin black hoodie closer around me.

Liz inched closer and again prepare herself to check my back for injury.

"Does anything hurt?" I didn't respond right away. A lot of things hurt, and not just because I'd fallen twenty feet. And besides, Liz couldn't do anything about it if she wanted.

"No."

"Danny..."

"You couldn't change it."

Liz gave me a hurt look. "Danny, what's wrong with you today? Tell me whats wrong."

I just shook my head and turned my back to her, pressing closer to the tree. "I don't wanna talk right now Liz."

She scooted closer to my side and placed her chin on my shoulder lightly, her forest green eyes boring into my soul. "I know this life sucks," she said finally. "But we can't change it. Not right now anyways. I don't know what's wrong with you, but I'm gonna go with a teenage mood swing."

"Why are we here?"

Liz looked confused. "What?"

"Why are we here?" I repeated. "In this forest, freezing, starving, and on the run?"

Liz smiled sadly and brushed my bangs away again. "Just lucky I guess. That's not really what's bothering you though, is it?"

"No... not really."

"Then what is?"

I sighed. "I just have a really bad feeling."

Liz turned so her hands ran over my back, checking for sprains or broken bones. "That's probably because you fell out of a tree genius. And we've been in this same city for about two weeks. I feel the same. So, let me check you out and then we can get out of here."

I sighed in defeat, but smiled. Liz always knew what to say. And even if she hadn't meant to, it made me feel better.

"Right shoulder." I said, rolling it tentatively. "I landed on it pretty hard."

Liz pressed on it gently. I didn't have to say anything as she went on. In the end, I had seriously bruised my shoulder and back. Not that I had expected anything different.

"And that, dear children," Liz joked. "Is why you don not sleep in trees!"

We laughed together, our breath visible in the air.

Liz turned and pressed her back to my chest, my chin resting on the top of her head. We leaned back together, my arms around her waist, her hands on top of mine.

"It's cold." She commented.

"You could always conjure up some fire!" I joked.

Liz just snickered and rolled her eyes, leaning closer to me to try and stay warm.

Part of me wished she had taken my request seriously. But the other part mocked my hope- neither of us had gone ghost in over a year.

"I wish we could fly again..." I muttered sleepily. "Be heroes again..."

Liz's teeth were chattering when she responded. "Me too. I wish I could become the Star of Amity Park again and fly far, far away. Save people without getting hunted."

"We'd have to train." I commented. "We're so out of practice."

Liz shrugged. "Maybe... we might be fine actually. The boot camp the Guys In White put us through was enough to keep our powers strong for a life time."

I nodded, but said nothing.

I hadn't thought about using my powers in a long time. Liz and I had to be careful when, if ever, we used them. If the GIW didn't have out ectoplasmic signature on file already, they would if we weren't careful.

I wondered what it would be like to use my powers again. It would be different for me then it was for Liz.

We never will know for sure why our powers are different, though we suspect it's because of the way we got our powers.

I got my powers by accident. Maddie and Jack Fenton had built a ghost portal. Or tried to anyway. I, being the sensitive little boy who loved his parents, tried to think of a way to fix it. Now, I wasn't smart enough to try and mess with the cables or work out the complicated math formulas. In the end, it was Sam's brilliant idea to actually go into the portal that started this whole mess. The problem turned out to be a fatal design flaw courtesy of my brilliant father. The on switch was in the portal. Yes, the genius that Jack was, and he put the stupid thing inside! I was caught in the middle of a nanosecond battle as the portal broke all laws of physics to try and bust a hole into a new dimension. The ghost energy that was being spread into the human world was enough to kill a man. However, fate was on my side that day. My genetic code, being only 14 years old, was easily susceptible to new virus'. The energy bonded itself to my DNA and BOOM! Danny Phantom was created. Had it been anyone else, they would have died. It definitely couldn't hurt that I'd been raised in a home where our Christmas turkey would come to life. So instead of dying, or staying alive, I was both.

Liz? Her story is very different. She was born a ghost. Her dad was a ghost but was able to disguise it and came into the mortal world where he met Liz's mom. They got married and had Liz and were pretty happy until Liz suddenly started turning ghost and firing ecto rays and other ghost stuff. Her mom was totally shocked to find out her husband was a ghost. For whatever reason, she still loved Liz's dad but loathed her daughter. Liz's dad went into the ghost zone and talked to Desiree, a ghost who grants wishes, and got a charm that would hide Liz's powers. It worked but Liz was treated like a freak by her mother. So guess what! Mom wants a human kid so Liz's parents have her little sister Kelly, who, luckily, was entirely human. Yay her. One day when Liz was 12, the GIW showed up at her house and busted out the ecto scanners and found out that her dad was a ghost. They couldn't tell what Liz was. So Liz's mother says that Liz was just babysitting her daughter and didn't even know her dad very well. Dad was taken to GIW HQ; Liz was taken to an orphanage where she stayed for two years. Then Vlad comes and adopts her. Life in Amity Park was nice, I had a ghost fighting team mate and then we get turned in to the GIW.

My thoughts were pulled back to the present when Liz stiffened in my arms.

There was some one come towards us. Twigs were snapping at a pace that suggested the person was moving at a jogging pace.

Liz and I looked at each other, but didn't move. Chances were, it was just a jogger on his early morning run. Of course it could also be a cop who could arrest us, or a GIW agent ready to kill us.

"Should we run?" I asked Liz.

She shook her head. "No. I think we should stay here, whoever that is might help us.

"Or kill us. They could do that too."

"Have a little faith!"

I just put the can of trail mix in my sweatshirt pocket while Liz hide away the candy. We had long since finished off the chips.

Soon, the jogger came crunching by. I had just been whispering to Liz about how nice it would be to have a fire when he slowed down to stare. We pretended to ignore him. At first, he just bent down a little and walked slowly towards us, most likely to determine if we were muggers or seriously in trouble.

When I started chocking on the cold air, he knew we were safe.

Slowly, he walked towards us. The sun kept rising, and as he got closer, I could make our more detail. He was a middle aged man- probably in his late 20's early 30's. His short brown hair was very fine- he was going bald in the front. His eyes were a calm blue- almost like mine had been. His track suit was the same grey/blue color of his eyes. I could tell why he wanted to run- he wasn't exactly slim. However, if he might be able to feed us, he could look like a terrorist and I wouldn't care.

"Hey." He said a little shyly. "Are you kids OK?"

Liz looked him up and down, searching for the tell tale signs of an undercover GIW agent. Luckily, there were none.

That didn't make us any more trusting towards him though. If anything, I think it freaked us out more. The fight or flight instinct in my brain was going insane. I wanted to fight out of defense, yet at the same time, I wanted to bolt right back up the tree I was leaning against. Eventually, I made do with having a firm grip on a pointy stick.

Yeah Danny, because that will really scare someone away.

"You look awful. When was the last time you ate?"

Liz slide a hand over mine before answering. "Two days ago, sir."

"Where are your parents?" The jogger questioned.

"We don't have any." I blurted. OK, so technically we did, but I wouldn't claim to be from their line of blood if you payed me.

"Well, that explains a few things," The man mused. He introduced himself as Jacob Walters. For a while, he sat and chatted with us.

At first it was awkward- after talking with no human who truly cared about my well being (Besides Liz) for two years, you kind of loss any social skills you once had. It was nice though. It wasn't like I was pouring out a sob story, he was just chatting with us like we were normal human teens. Ironic, since we aren't.

At some point he asked for our names. Stating the same names as the half-ghost, deranged lunatics that the government was hunting for was an obvious mistake. So instead, Liz claimed to be Star, and I became James. My middle name is James, so it was the first name that came to mind. Liz probably close Star on account of her ghost name. While I selected a nearly identical name as my own, she was a bit more creative. She was the Star Of Amity Park.

Once upon a time, those names were something to be proud of. Now, they are the names that strike fear into the very soul of everyone who hears it.

My thoughts were snapped back to reality when Liz grabbed my wrist and yanked me to my feet.

"What are we doing?" I whisper as we walked through the trees, close on the heels of Jacob.

"He offered us help. Like, he's buying us food. Did you nit just hear me saying 'thanks'?"

I mentally punched myself. Every time I zone out of reality to visit the good times, something important happens.

As we entered the bustling city, my heart sank. It was so like Amity Park, it hurt. I saw a small pizza shop where teenagers were hanging out before school started.

Like I used to.

In a between two buildings, a group of jocks shoved innocent, helpless little geeks into a dumpster, crushing their calculators for good measure.

Like ash used to.

I heard Liz sigh and turned to look at her. She was smiling sadly at a picture for a mayor election. The man going for vice mayor was smiling with an arm wrapped loosely around who I assumed was his daughter.

Liz used to pose for photos like that.

It was almost painful to walk to concrete sidewalk of the town. It wasn't Amity, but it was close. Maybe that's just how all cities are- maybe not. I doubt this town has any super powered teenagers protecting it though.

As we walked, people waved at Jacob. They sent him looks that said why are two hobos stalking you? But he ignored them.

Liz shivered slightly, and glanced at the sky. What I had thought was a dark morning due to the earliness of our activities was actually a storm rolling in. Snow clouds to be precise.

"Are you as uncomfortable as I am?" Liz questioned, glancing around in the paranoid way she had developed.

I shrugged, wincing. Falling from the tree had been slightly more painful as I had let on. And Liz knew it.

The look in her eyes said it all. Not only did she know it hurt, she knew there was nothing she could do about it.

Carefully, she placed a hand on my back, between my shoulder blades. As much as I tried to hide it, a soft hiss escaped my lips.

"I'm fine," I tried to convince her. Liz knew better. She always does.

"You are going to have a heck of a time sleeping tonight mister." She rolled her eyes with a smile on her face as she quickened her pace. Jacob was a fast walker, and we were falling behind.

"Because I'll be sleeping in a tree?"

Liz shook her head. "Because you'll be sleeping on the ground."

I laughed at first, thinking she was joking. She wasn't. I would have questioned her further- explained that I was just fine- but Jacob had stopped in front of a small coffee shop. It wasn't a name I recognized 'cafe etonnant'.

The smell wafting from the door made my mouth water- fresh ground coffee, chocolate, fresh bread, and more.

A low growl came from Liz's direction. With an amused smirk, Jacob opened the door and gestured Liz and I through.

Soft rock music played in the background. The interior was all brown, dark green and orange, but it felt very homey. As soon as our little trio walked in, all conversation stopped. Everyone was staring at us with emotionless eyes, indifferent to what we were doing there. A few women pulled their purses closer to their chests, and fathers held onto their children protectively.

"It's cool guys." Jacob said walking to the counter. "Hey Sam." he said casually to the woman working the register.

The sound of her name was like a needle piercing my heart. But when I saw her face, I gasped out loud. This girl looked around my age. What was scarier was the insane resemblance she had with my Sam.

Bleached blond hair (Which was the only difference I could spot) was pulled back in a pony tail, a purple scrunchy holding it in place. Her purple eyes were locked onto me, almost as if she knew not only who I was, but what had happened to me. An orange t-shirt was covered partially by the black apron she was wearing. Her lips were a natural shade of pink, but their physical appearance reminded my of the ones that had met mine once or twice. And when she spoke, I swear she spoke with the voice of a certain goth.

"What can I get for you today Jacob?" Her voice wavered slightly, like she was trying to keep herself from bursting into tears.

He jerked a thumb towards us. "I know you love helping those in need, so I brought James and Star to you. I know you'll take good care of them."

Before any protests could be made, he sprinted out the door and continued his jog.

"Hi." Sam smiled- a smile that was familiar yet strange.

"Hi." Liz said cautiously. Judging from her face, she was just as reminded of our old 'friend' as I was.

"Table or booth?" Sam questioned. Neither Liz or I answered, so Sam gave up and lead us to a booth in a corner. She handed us two small, laminated menus, gave us a look that was unreadable, and walked off to help another customer.

"Was it just me, or-" Liz began.

"Or was she a lot like our Sam? Yeah, I know."

I probably would have cared more, but hunger was taking over my ind. I needed food, and I needed it now. Everything on the menu looked delicious, but it was expensive. And we had no money.

Just as I was about to suggest we leave, Sam walked back up. "Do you know what you want yet?" She questioned.

"We don't have any money." Liz said, setting her menu down.

"I know." Sam shifted her weight from on foot to the other, her hip jutting out. "That's why Jacob brought you to me. I always help anyone who needs it."

Her eyes glanced at me with a look so incredibly heart breaking, you would have thought she was talking about someone who died. "And by the looks of it, you need it."

Liz frowned suspiciously. "How do we know that you won't give us food, then call the cops and frame us for stealing?"

Sam sighed and grinned. "You don't. I guess that you'll just have to trust me."

"We don't really trust anyone. Why should we trust you?" I had to keep myself from growling. Every second I spent close to this girl, I became more and more sure that she was the Sam I once knew and loved.

"I suppose you wouldn't, after how you were treated."

Liz and I glanced at each other from across the table. "What are you talking about?" Liz asked. If you knew her, you could tell she was getting ready to fight. Her muscles were tensed, her hand slowly rolling into a fist.

I realized I was inching my way into a fighting stance; arms in a location that would easily launch me upwards, feet in a direction that could kick and run quickly.

A slight pink hue rose to Sam's face. "I mean, you ran away didn't you? Something bad must have happened for you to do that. Anyway, coffee? Muffin? Eggs?"

I still didn't trust Sam. Maybe she was the one I knew, maybe she wasn't. This Sam sure seemed nicer then the one who betrayed me.

"hmm..." Liz rescanned the menu in her hand. "I'll have the french toast with a side of scrambled eggs. But can I substitute hash browns for-"

"For the bacon?" Sam guess. As soon as she said it, she covered her mouth with her hand.

"How'd you know?" Liz questioned with wide eyes.

"The bacon here is terrible. Almost everyone asks that."

Liz shot me a look. Back when we were 14, Sam and Liz had been the only two vegetarians in the city. This blond Sam seemed to have known...

Shrugging off the creepiness of the situation, I ordered a large coffee, pancakes, sausage, and a french strawberry crape for Liz and I to split. Sam nodded, and stalked towards the kitchen to place our order.

As soon as she was out of ear shot, I turned to Liz. "You don't think that there's anyway that could be Sam, do you?"

Liz thought about it. "No." She decided. "The Sam that hurt us is in New York. Plus, this Sam is blond. And nice. I doubt our Sam could pretend to tolerate us long enough for that."

I nodded. By the time out food came, I felt like I might pass out from hunger. Chips are great, but they really don't make up for a missed meal every three days.

"How long have you guys been in town?" Sam questioned, handing out plates of steaming food.

"A while." Liz said absently, shoveling a forkful of hash browns into her mouth.

"Have you talked to the Teen Titans?"

At that, Liz and I froze. Teen Titans? Who were they? My mind made a comical picture of a bunch of teenagers made out of metal, standing on street corners like modern art.

Sam took our blank stares as a 'no'. "Seriously?!" She laughed a little. "The Teen Titans are the best super heroes ever!"

I swallowed a bite of pancake. I had never, in my life, heard of any other super heroes other than Liz, myself, and comic book characters.

"OK," Sam slide into the seat next to me, excitement radiating off her. "The Teen Titans are a group of 5 crime fighting, super powered, astounding super heroes! There's Robin- boy wonder and team leader. Raven, the goth sorceress. Then we have Cyborg, the half human, half computer, and totally sexy brains of the team. Starfire is the sister of the group- she's an alien by the way. And finally, we have Beast Boy, the animal shape shifter!"

Whoa. That was an... interesting team. At best.

I could tell that Sam was about to talk more about the team, but the door opened and she left to help a mother and her son.

With out the distraction of a complete stranger talking to us about a team of freaks, Liz and I were able to chow down. Every bite was heaven- every syrup drenched bite of pancake, every juicy piece of sausage, and the coffee was excellent! Liz was enjoying our meal every bit as much as I was. All to soon, the plates were sparkling clean- so free of crumbs they might as well have come out of the dish washer.

And I felt full. I hadn't felt that way in two years. Liz yawned and leaned back. The window we were next to was letting in early morning rays of sunshine.

"That was amazing." She sighed happily. I nodded in agreement.

"Hey guys!" Sam walked up to us cheerfully. "Dang, you must have been starving!"

I'm sure she meant that figuratively, but it was true.

"So these titans," Liz sat up to look at Sam. "How many people like them? I mean, they must have some haters, right?"

Without a second thought, Sam shook her head. "Nope. I can't think of one person who hates them. Except their enemies, but that's it."

I nearly chocked on the last of my coffee. "You're kidding? No one questioned them?"

"Hated them, tried to run them out of town, accused them of treason, nothing?" With every word, Liz's long nails dug deeper into the flesh on my wrist. With I pointed look, I pried her hand off of me. She sent a half second long apologetic look, but then focused back on Sam.

"Nope." Sam shrugged. "Everyone loves them."

Just as the words left her mouth, cheers came from outside. Everyone stood, raced out side, their voices joining the incomprehensible screams.

"Speak of the devils." Sam jumped up are ran out the door to watch.

Sharing a quick glance with Liz, we went too.

We had to shove our way to the front of the crowd, and when we did, I can't say I was impressed. Speeding down the strangely vacant street, was the strangest group of kids I'd ever seen.

Robin was in front. His black hair was greased back with enough product to open a hair salon with. His costume was ridiculous. It had the same colors as a traffic light. He was driving on a motor cycle the same colors as his uniform. He was flanked by a really cool- yet strange, looking car. A muscular guy with skin the same tone as Tucker's sat behind the wheel. I knew he was Cyborg because half his body was made of metal. Sitting shotgun with his head out the window was a young looking boy with green skin, and pointed ears. Hopefully that was Beast boy. Two girls were flying above. One of them was dressed in a black leotard and a matching cloak. Considering she was the only one in black, I guessed she was Raven. That left the alien girl. Star- something or another. Her long pink hair trailed behind her like a glossy banner. Her purple outfit looked like something Liz might wear.

Wow.

The titans were a lot less impressive then I thought they would have been. As they passed us, Raven looked up and locked eyes with Liz and I. Without meaning too, Liz and I leaned in towards each other. The message we sent was clear: stay away from us.

Raven looked down at Robin, who was talking. All I could make out was 'Cinderblock is breaking into the 7th street jail-" and then they were gone.

The crowds dispersed, leaving Liz and I alone on the sidewalk. Sam walked up behind us. Her apron was off, and I noticed something black half hidden by the neck of her shirt. It looked like a tattoo. Noticing my stares, she covered it with her hand.

"I got it when I lost a close friend." She muttered. "Anyway, I'm off duty now, so I can't get you any more free food." She placed a hand on my shoulder. "But hey, stay strong. But if I were you, I wouldn't stay in this town much longer- at least not with some help."

Without another word, she walked away and didn't look back.

"Now what should we do?" I asked Liz.

"Isn't it obvious?" She questioned. "We go after the titans."

"Ha ha. Funny."

"I'm being serious."

The look on her face proved her statement. "Liz, are you insane?"

"Hear me out!" She folded her arms over her chest. "If we go ghost, find the Titans and explain our case, then they might help. Plus, we'll get to see why they are so wonderful, no one questioned their protection of the town."

Her plan made a little sense. But only a little. "You want me to go ghost? We haven't done that in two years Liz! I'm not even sure we can become ghost anymore!"

Liz smiled slightly. "I know, I know. It will be scary and risky and is most likely a stupid thing to do." She grabbed my arm and yanked me behind a dumpster. "But that's the story of my life. C'mon Danny, don't you want to fly again?"

Liz was giving me the puppy dog pout. The pout that finally broke me. "Scary, risky and stupid huh?" Liz gave me a hopeful look. "Well, must be Tuesday then!"

Liz hugged me and whispered a think you in my ear. Together, we crouched behind the dumpster. Before we had the chance to go ghost, a car pulled up to the Employes only door. The car was white. As we watched, Sam walked out and got into the car. She didn't look happy about it. Then, it drove off.

Whatever. It didn't matter to us anyway.

"Ready?" Liz questioned.

"As I'll ever be."

On a mental count to three, we went ghost. I looked down at my outfit. Since I was 14, it had changed. When it had exactly, I'm not sure. All I cared about was that it was stealthier, and cooler. Liz's too.

If you were to think of Liz and I in our ghost forms, you would imagine me wearing a black HAZMAT suite with white gloves, boots, belt, and collar. You'd also think that I'd been wearing the little Danny Phantom DP logo. Liz would be in a black tee-shirt with a purple star on it, black jeans, purple gloves, boots, and belt.

Our hair still turns white, my eyes still turn a glowing green and Liz's eyes still turn a glowing purple, but the outfits are different. Mine looks about the same, but every thing is black and I don't have the stupid logo anymore. Liz's costume looks much different.

Like my outfit the entire thing is black. She still has a tee-shirt, but her gloves cover the rest of her arms. Her belt is also black. Instead of jeans she wears shorts, and her boots are super high. She looks really awesome. The outfits always make me feel so mysterious. It's kinda cool.

Going ghost felt good. It awoke a part of my soul that had been pushed down for far to long. It felt the same way it does when you stretch your arms after working for a long time.

Liz flicked her now white hair out of her face and grinned. Her purple eyes glinted in the sun as if to say hello world! Guess who's back!

"Well," She stood up and helped me to my feet. "Let's go find the titans!"


	2. Attack on Titans- Raven

Chapter two- Raven

My life is not normal. It never was nor will it ever be.

I'm a super hero. I fight off super-powered morons all the time, use supernatural powers, and witness the impossible on a weekly basis.

Monsters, robots, super-powers, end of the world weapons? Sure, those don't surprise me.

But that day, February 18th, something truly and honestly surprised me, and the other titans, and it changed our lives forever.

That was the day we were haunted by ghosts.

As I looked around at the mess we'd created, I thought back and tire to figure out how my 'normal' day had turned into this.

"Titans trouble!" Robin shouted.

Like we couldn't tell that from the blaring alarm. I sighed and put my book down. This wasn't the first time my reading had been interrupted by a bad guy doing what they do best.

"What's happenin'?" BB asked as everyone raced into the living room.

"Cinderblock, county jail." Robin said as he ran past. Sighing, I stood and followed as my friends as I raced to the garage.

"Friend Raven," Starfire began as we waited outside the garage door. "Does something feel... strange to you?"

I looked at her strangely. "What'd you mean?"

"There is... something not correct with the way the city feels."

I leaned against the wall and looked at the city. Starfire wasn't wrong- something was off. For the life of me, I couldn't tell what it was, but there was something wrong.

"Yeah." I muttered. "Yeah it does."

"Perhaps we could discuss it while doing the painting of the nails tonight?" Starfire sounded hopeful.

I shook my head. "I've told you a million times Star- I don't-" Before I could finish my sentence, the garage door opened and Robins cycle came roaring out., closely followed by the T- car.

Starfire and I took to the sky, following our team.

Too soon, we were in the city. Cheering people crowded the streets, treating our presence as if it were a parade. That's not what drove me crazy though. It was that feeling Starfire and I had shared that bothered me- it got stronger as we got further into the city.

I can hardly describe how it felt. It was like there was a negative and conflicted soul, but it wasn't solid. Dead souls and the souls of people alive feel different- dead ones being empty and alive ones feeling full. This felt as if it were caught in a tornado, spinning and spiking between the two. It didn't even feel like a dying soul.

Maybe it's a new hero... or enemy...

We were halfway to our destination when it happened- the feeling got overwhelming.

I turned my head to the side of the road.

Two kids were watching us, not cheering, not smiling, not showing any emotion at all.

The boy was tall, but still about an inch shorter than his friend. His black hair was dirty and matted into a rats nest. His clothes were torn, worn out, and stained with mud, dirt, sweat, and... was that blood? His jeans disappeared into the scuffed up things he called boots. His eyes were a broken blue.

His friend was a pretty looking girl. Her chocolate brown hair was even more messed up then her friends. Her clothes were in just the same shape- her jeans too shirt and her shirt too small. Her green eyes locked on my for what must have been less then a second, but what I saw was fear, anger, distrust, and annoyance.

The kids leaned in closer to each other as we flew past, and then they were gone.

I looked down at Robin, flying faster to try and talk to him. "Did you see those kids?"

Robin glanced up at me. "No, I'm driving. I don't look at the civilians. Why?"

I shrugged and floated away. It was probably just my imagination or something. Besides, I couldn't get distracted right now. Cinderblock may have been a total block head but he wasn't someone to fight while being distracted.

It wasn't long before I found myself standing outside of the jail, back pressed to the wall. It was easy to tell we were in the right place- the sound of giant, heavy footsteps and destruction came from inside the prison.

We walked in and silently made our way to the courtyard- the place Cinderblock was.

"You know Cinderblock," Beast boy yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth. "The bad guys usually try to break out of jail!"

"And I can think of five good reasons why you wouldn't want to break in." Robin added.

For a moment, I zoned out. That weird, unnatural feeling was back and it was even closer then before. I glanced over my shoulder and half expected someone to be there. But there was only the trail of broken cells Cinderblock had left behind.

Our fight with him was fairly easy, we got tossed around a bit, but what's new? Personally, I think it's my fault. I was so distracted by the feeling, that one of my spells was cut off when Beast Boy- who was a T- Rex by the way- landed on me.

"Eh he... watch out for falling dinosaurs?" He tried. My glare sent him running.

A while later, Cyborg got tossed aside pretty harshly. He and Cinderblock had been fencing, using support beams as swords.

It was when Starfire melted the overgrown brick's beam that he started to run away.

"Wanna give this guy the sonic boom?" Robin asked Cyborg as he helped him up."

"I got the sonic if you got the boom!" Cyborg replied confidently.

They ran after Cinderblock. "Yo, rock head!" Cyborg yelled. Cinderblock froze and turned. The boys ran parallel to each other on the walls and jumped into the air, attempting to arch over each other.

Unfortunately, their feet collided midair sending them flying. When Cyborg crashed against the wall, his sonic blaster fired at Star and BB. I, on the other hand, got momentarily blinded by Robins "boom" when it came sliding towards me.

A sound came from Cinderblock's mouth- it was probably laughter. It ended abruptly when he fell flat on his face.

"Uhhh..." BB stared down at him, his mouth hanging open. "Did we do that?"

There was a steaming burn on the back of Cinderblocks head, like it had been torched with fire.

"No," Robin growled. "We didn't because somebody messed up."

Cyborg whipped around to face our leader. "You got something to say?"

"Yeah," Robin sneered. "It's your fault he almost got away!"

"My fault?!" Cyborg shouted back. "You're the one who got in my way!"

"You were too far forward and the move failed because of it."

Cyborg scoffed in disbelief. "You sayin' this is my fault?"

"Want me to say it again?"

"Stop!" Starfire demanded, placing a hand on each boy's chest. "No more mean talking."

BB laughed in agreement. "Yeah. I gotta sell tickets first you you guys are gonna fight!"

Robin and Cyborg huffed in unison before stalking off in opposite directions.

"Loser." Robin said under his breath.

"Jerk." Cyborg muttered.

The two whirled around to face each other. "WHAT'D YOU SAY!?"

I rolled my eyes. We might have been a team, but things could still get tense. And lately, things had been worse than ever. I mean, even Robin was being pissy.

I know he's a teenage guy and they're supposed to suddenly become more aggressive at this time in their life, but this was just ridiculous. No one seemed to notice the fact that we didn't take down Cinderblock!

Someone had done the job for us, and we hadn't even seen it happen.

"You got a problem, tin man?" Robin snarled.

"Yeah," Cyborg smirked. "It's about four feet tall and smells like cheap hair gel!"

I winced. Robin wasn't that short- he was actually 5'3- but when he stood by Cyborg it was easy to think him shorter.

I was sure the fight would have escalated, but suddenly they both stopped. Robin doubled over as if he had be punched and Cyborg's head whipped to the side.

"Ow..." they both muttered. Cyborg put a hand to his face as Robin rubbed his stomach.

"What'd ya do that for?" Cy asked me.

Robin looked at me, almost in awe. "I didn't know your magic packed such a punch..." he muttered.

I stared at my team mates. "That wasn't me."

For a few awkward moments, no one said anything. Then they laughed awkwardly. "No, seriously," Beast boy said. "How'd you hit them without your black purple magic smokey mist vapor stuff showing?"

I shook my head. "I'm serious- that wasn't me!"

We all looked at each other in confusion. "Then..." Starfire looked around the courtyard with paranoia. "Who did harm our friends?"

The air was still, each hero using their sense to try and detect something unusual.

BB turned into a dog and went on point to something in the corner. Cyborgs scanners went haywire and that weird feeling was back, stronger then ever.

What can make a feeling like that?

Suddenly, something rang a bell.

"Ghosts." I whispered, so quiet no one heard me. Beast boy began to bark and Cyborgs scanners went wild.

"SHOW YOURSELF!" Robin demanded, pulling out his BO- staff.

The feeling was fading slightly, as if the person causing it was moving away.

Whispering a spell under my breath and raising my hands seemed to shut everyone up. I focused and tried to make whatever invisible thing that was stalking us show it's self.

"Come out." I said. "We know you're here, what do you want?"

A collective gasp echoed though the courtyard and I opened my eyes.

Two kids were floating about us.

The girl was shaking her hand out. "I'm glad I didn't punch the metal side of your face." She said to Cyborg.

Her companion- a boy who looked to be the same age as her- laughed. "Wanna switch? Hitting that scrawny kid," he gestured to Robin. "Was nothing."

Robin narrowed his eyes. "What?"

The girl held her hands up in a surrendering way. "Chill Bird Brain. I'm sure you're plenty strong, we're just stronger."

Beast boy couldn't help but laugh. "Ha, Bird Brain! I like that!"

I couldn't take my eyes off the kids, they looked familiar. Of course, I don't think I've ever seen two teens fully clad in black and with snow white hair before. And their eyes- his were toxic green and hers were glowing purple.

"Why are you here?" Cyborg snapped, losing patience.

"We just came to watch." the boy with green eyes said.

"Watch?" I questioned.

Green eyes and the girl nodded. "Yeah."

Robin scoffed. "I don't believe that. Why would you come to watch us? Don't you know it's dangerous to get in the way of superheroes?"

The girl raised an eyebrow. "I think we can handle ourselves alright. I mean, we did take out that walking rock for you, didn't we?"

"You were responsible?" Starfire asked. The ghosts nodded. "Many thanks!" Starfire said cheerfully.

"Uh... You're welcome." Green eyes said uncertainly.

"Would you like to be our friends?" Star went on to ask.

Green eyes and the girl shared a glance. "We uh.. We don't really make friends." the girl stammered out.

"I can see why." Robin said in annoyance. "Now, we're going to have to take you in for questioning."

Fear clouded the teens' eyes. "What?" Green eyes looked scared. "Why?"

"You stalked us here, you were able to take down Cinderblock, you hit us, and you want me to believe you're just innocent bystanders?"

"Robin, wait." said Beast Boy. "They didn't really do anything wrong."

"Besides," the ghost girl said. "It's not like you physically have to do anything."

"It's my duty." Robin snapped.

Green eyes rolled his eyes. "Don't pull that crap. You just don't know anything about us and thus see us as a threat. I promise you, we aren't. Heck, we'll be gone in a day anyways. And anyways, your little silver stick wouldn't hurt us much anyways."

Robin was seething. I half expected steam to begin pouring from his ears. "Don't... how dare you... you stupid..." He was too angry to talk straight.

Ghost girl snickered. "Angry bird."

At that, BB and Cy couldn't help but laugh.

And that was when things went wrong.

I looked down at the mess we had created. It was a simple fight- stared by Robin, ended by the ghosts.

Robins temper had gotten the best of him and he reacted badly, lashing out and attacking. The rest of the titans joined in because our leaders instincts are usually right. Besides, I didn't think I liked these kids much.

Currently, Robin was twisting Green Eyes right arm behind his back. The ghost yelped and tried to pull away, pain in his eyes.

Starfire was reluctantly holding the struggling ghost girl away.

"LET ME GO!" Ghost girl growled, sending desperate looks towards Green eyes, who returned the look.

"Don't fight anymore." Cyborg pleaded. "We just gotta ask you a few questions!"

"The more you struggle, the worse you make this for yourself." I said, walking closer to Green eyes.

He glared at me. "We didn't do anything!" Robin twisted his arm harder and he yelped.

"Stop!" Ghost girl yelled, sending Robin a death glare. If looks could kill, Robin would have been murdered 10 times over.

"Let us question you." Robin said calmly. "And then, if you're innocent, you'll be free to go."

Panic flashed in the teens' eyes. Were the actually guilty of something? Or was something else wrong?

Suddenly, Ghost Girl broke away of Starfire's grasp. Green eyes leaned back then rocketed forward, flipping Robin away and freeing himself.

Without another word, they both began flying away.

Cyborg fired his blaster and the beam grazed Green eyes cafe. The ghost hissed, but didn't stop.

Robin threw his bird-a-rang and it wrapped around Ghost Girls waist. She cried out in surprise as her flight was suddenly interrupted.

Green eyes turned and dived back down, pulling the rope off of her.

"What are you hiding!?" Robin shouted.

The ghosts' turned to face us, panic written in their faces, terror in their eyes.

"Trust me," Green eyes said. "You don't wanna know."

"What does that mean?" Beast boy asked.

"It mean's we're the good guys." Ghost girl said.

With that they flew off at an insane speed, and were gone.

"What just happened?" I asked, looking around at my friends in confusion.

"I dunno..." Robin mused. "But I'm gonna find out."


	3. I am the snow ghost- Liz

Chapter 3- Liz

Danny and I were exhausted when we returned to the thicket of trees we called home.

After not eating for so long and the physical exerhsion, we were too tired to do more then curl up together under the tree and fall asleep. Of course I just had to have a nightmare.

_"God," Sam scowled. "I can't believe you guys."_

_"What?" Danny asked, looking at her dejectedly. "It's not like this is the first time we've messed up."_

_Tucker rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but look around."_

_Danny and I looked at the remains of Mainstreet. Almost every store had gotten it's windows shatter, the street was torn up, and many buildings had holes in their walls._

_"Fighting Skulker was a little difficult today." I admitted with a stifled yawn._

_"No kidding." Sam snapped. "I know you guys are tired but you can't get sloppy like this!"_

_Now she was pissing me off. "It's not like you and Tucker helped!"_

_Danny nodded. "We needed you guys! You said you'd be right there, then coms went dead and suddenly you didn't help!"_

_"We shouldn't have to help." Said Tucker. "You guys are the ones with the super powers, not us."_

_Danny shook his head. He turned to look at me. Currently, we were both laying on out backs in the middle of the road, beat up and worn out._

_"Why are you being so negative?" Danny questioned. "It'd be kinda nice to hear 'oh that last fall looked painful, are you alright?' or something."_

_"We're fine, in case you were wondering." I stood up with a considerable amount of effort. "It's just pain."_

_Tucker and Sam didn't say anything for a moment, just looked at us with these blank, creepy stares._

_"Sorry..." Tucker murmured. He offered me his hand and I took it. It was cold, but had an underlying heat to it that felt strange and good at the same time._

_"Let's go back to Danny's and figure out a new battle plan." Sam suggested, helping Danny to his feet._

_"Can we go to the Nasty Burger and get food first?" Danny asked hopefully. As he tried to walk, he winced. "Or the hospital?"_

_Sam and Tucker glared at him. "No. We're going to go to your house and make a plan of action."_

_Danny and I shared a look. "Sam," I said, cradling my bruised wrist to my chest. "We want to beat him just as much as the next guy. But we need to rest first- we took a beating."_

_Danny nodded. "I want a shower." He commented. "And food. And then some painkillers and sleep. Then we can figure this out."_

_I nodded in agreement. Blood, ectoplasum, dirt, dust, sweat, and bits of cement caked both my body and his. By hair was a rats nest, and I was ready for a nap._

_"Fine!" Tucker threw his hands in the air, exasperated. "But when ghosts take over the world, don't say we didn't try!"_

_It took a little longer then usual, but soon we were at Fenton Works. Sam and Tucker distracted Danny's parents as we went up to his room._

_"Man," Danny muttered, pulling his dresser drawer open. "Sam and Tucker are in a mood, aren't they?"_

_I nodded in agreement, pulling a box out from under Danny's bed. We had been through this routine enough times, I had a box of clothes and other necessities with a permanent residence under his bed. There would be some nights I even ended up sleeping at his house, curled up on one of his over sized sleeping bags._

_"You wanna take first shower?" Danny offered, collapsing on his bed._

_"That's generous of you." I sat next to him. "What hurts bad enough that you'd let me take first shower?"_

_Danny pointed to his leg. "I messed it up pretty bad- don't know how."_

_Tenderly, I pulled the hem of his jeans up until his leg was visible from the knee down._

_"Ouch." I commented, regarding the 6 inch long gash he had acquired._

_He nodded, his eye lids drooping. "Blood loss." he said in a weak voice._

_I nodded and returned again to my box. I was smart enough to keep a full stocked first aid kit in it, as well as some more serious medical supplies._

_"Stitches." I said simply. "Then we can wrap it and blame it as a bruise from walking into a table or something."_

_"Won't it scar?" Danny asked, looked more tired with every passing second._

_I shook my head. "Not of you don't move too much, and if I'm careful."_

_Danny just nodded and held still as I stitched the wound closed. He didn't complain, just let out sharp hisses every now and then._

_"What about you?" he asked, just as I was finishing up. "You need any patching up?"_

_"Not that we can do. My wrist hurts like heck though." Danny brought it closer to him and inspected it. "It looks like your ghost immunity is already fixing it." He commented._

_I nodded. "But it still hurts."_

_Danny smiled and leaned back on his pillows. "I know. For such a useful power, it hurts pretty bad."_

_"Sure you don't want first shower?"_

_"Naw," Danny batted the question away and closed his eyes. "I wanna sleep first. Take as much time as you need."_

_I slipped into his bathroom and stripped off my ruined clothes. Cuts, bruises, scrapes, and scratches covered most of my body._

_"Don't you look pretty?" I muttered sarcastically._

_I turned the shower on and stepped into the hot water, letting it run over me and cleanse my skin._

_The one thing I had yet to add to my box was shampoo, so I had to use Danny's. It wasn't the green apple/mint stuff I normally used, and smelled much more masculine, but it got the job done._

_By the time I was out and had dried off, most of my battle scars were gone._

_I slipped into my clothes- navy blue jeans and a purple crop top, slipping my shoes into purple converse- and reentered Danny's room._

_The poor kid was fast sleep, his wounded leg propped up on a pillow, his head leaning to the side. For whatever reason, his shirt had been discarded, exposing how beat up his torso looked._

_Danny must have been trying to stay awake because his algebra homework was open on his lap._

_"Danny," I leaned over him and shook his shoulder lightly. "Hey buddy wake up."_

_He groaned and stirred slightly, but didn't open his eyes._

_"C'mon ghost boy," I said a little louder. "You are in desperate need of a shower."_

_Danny finally opened his eyes. "Thanks," he said with a tired smirk. "You feelin' better?"_

_I nodded then yawned. "I think I'm gonna sleep while you clean up."_

_Danny stood and limped off towards his bathroom. "Bed's wide open." he called before losing the door._

_I grinned and slipped under the covers. The sheets were warm and smelled like Danny. It took no time at all for sleep to claim me._

_I woke up to someone banging the door open._

_"Wake up." Sam and Tucker snapped._

_I sat up groggily and look around the room. Danny had layed down on the other side of his bed and had fallen asleep again._

_It wasn't the first time we'd done something like that- falling asleep in the same bed. It wasn't as if we ever did anything- it was something just the most rational thing to do._

_"wa's wrong?" Danny muttered, sleep slurring his voice._

_"It's been two hours." Tucker explained. "Jack and Maddie want to see you; there's a visitor here."_

_I looked at Danny. He looked as confused as I was- clearly he hadn't been expecting anyone._

_"Vlad's here too." Sam added._

_That caught my attention- why on Earth was Vlad here?_

_Before Danny or I could ask any proper questions, the two stalked out._

_"What is there problem today?" Danny sighed, running his hands over his face._

_I shrugged. "Maybe they're jealous that we're turning 15 before them?"_

_Danny laughed. "Yeah, cause Sam is totally the jealous type."_

_As we made our way downstairs, we discussed who the mysterious visitor could be. By the time we were in the kitchen, we had decided it was probably Mr. Lancer, wanting to talk to our parents about our failing grades._

_Jack, Maddie, Vlad, Sam, and tucker were all seated at the kitchen table when we entered. No visitor was in sight._

_"Sorry we took so long," Danny laughed sheepishly. "Liz was helping me with my math homework and it took longer then expected."_

_"Lier." Maddie said without missing a beat._

_Danny froze. "what?"_

_"You weren't doing homework, you were sleeping. Together. In the same bed."_

_Danny's cheeks grew red and I felt mine do the same._

_"Look," I stepped in. "I promise it's not what you think it is-"_

_"We know exactly what it is." Jack cut me off._

_"Dad, if you guys are all here to give us a lecture I can promise-"_

_"Don't call me that."_

_Danny cleared his throat. "Don't call you what?"_

_"Dad," Jack said. "I'm not your father."_

_Suddenly, four tall men jumped out from nowhere. One grabbed Danny, and grabbed me._

_"Hey!" we shouted. Panic made me freeze when I noticed the white suits._

_Oh my God, no. No, no, no, no, please no._

_"You see," Vlad began. "We know what happened to you children. Or, should I say monsters."_

_"The ghost powers?" Danny asked, breathless._

_Everyone nodded._

_"The powers that kill our children," Maddie went on. "and let you ghosts take their place."_

_Suddenly, we were being hauled towards the front door._

_"What? What are you talking about? What are you doing!?" I yelped, pulling and trying to get the GIW agent to release his grip on me._

_"We didn't realize it at first." Tucker explained. "But after what happened today, we know the truth. You are our friends, you aren't even human."_

_Sam nodded in agreement. "After seeing what you did to Mainstreet?And your behavior lately- you aren't Danny."_

_Danny ceased his struggling long enough to meet Sam's gaze. "What are you, crazy!? Sam you know that's not true, you were there when this mess was first started!"_

_She scoffed. "You're right- I did witness it. I witness the murder of my best friend!"_

_"You're crazy!" I shouted as Danny and I were carried to a white van in front of the building._

_"Let me go!" Danny screamed._

_Just then, a pink car pulled up. Jazz jumped out and ran over to see what was happening._

_"Hey!" she snapped. "Let go of the little brother!" She sent me a sideways glance. "And Liz!"_

_The Guys In White simply handed her a piece of white paper before shoving us in the back of the van._

_Danny and I watched through the back window as Jack had to physically hold Jazz back as she kicked, screamed, and cried, trying to make the guys in white release us. Maddie looked like she was explaining to Jazz what had happened, but Jazz wouldn't listen._

_"DANNY!" She screamed at the top of her lungs._

_Danny and I pounded on the back door of the van, but we couldn't get it to open. We even went far as to go ghost to try and break the door down. Nothing worked._

_The GIW agents got into the van, followed by Sam and Tucker._

_Danny and I kept yelling, kicking, pushing, and beating on the door._

_"JAZZ! HELP! MOM, DAD!" Danny yelled desperately._

_"VLAD! JAZZ! STOP, PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP!" I screamed, practically breaking my shoulder as I slammed into the door._

_At last, the van started and we began to drive away from Fenton Works._

_"JAZZ!" Danny practically sobbed._

_"DANNY!" We heard her wail. Then the van turned a corner, and they were gone._

_"Will you shut up already?" Sam questioned, turning around from her spot beyond a wire mesh wall._

_"How?" I snapped, ready to punch the goth. "How can you be doing this to us?"_

_"Pretty simply actually." Sam said casually. She turned to Danny. "This is revenge. You... I can't believe what you did."_

_Danny looked at her helplessly. "What did I do!?"_

_"And you," Sam pointed an accusing finger at me. "This is your fault in the first place! If you had never come to Amity park, this never would have had to happen."_

_"W- what? Sam, what is wrong with you?" I shouted, pounding a fist on the mesh wire, as if I could break through it and slam her face in a wall._

_"You ruined everything." Tucker said simply. "We're just returning the favor."_

_A green vapor filled the van and I recognized it as a ghostly drug; something that affected ghosts but not humans._

_Danny and I had time to share one terrified look before we blacked out._

I sat bolt upright, gasping for breath. It took a moment to realize that I was on the ground, in a park, under a tree in California and not being taken to my doom.

I ran a hand over my face and tried to steady my breathing. I hadn't had a nightmare in a really long time- neither had Danny. For the most part, we had gotten over those- been able to push away any feelings that brought back memories. We did have relapses every now and again, but rarely.

That dream had been terrible- mostly because it had actually happened, two ears ago. That was the last day I had had a real shower, slept in a real bed, seen Vlad, Maddie, Jack, and Jazz. That was the last time I'd been in a car too.

Calming down a bit, I looked down at Danny. He was sleeping on his back, his right arm under his head and his left still slightly wrapped around my waist. Our legs were intertwined. I remembered laying on his, trying to get warmer as we fell asleep.

I noticed that it was cold enough that our breath was visible. Looking around, it dawned on me why I was so cold.

White, freshly fallen snow covered every inch of everything.

Grinning slightly, I grabbed a handful and shaped it into a ball.

Making sure I was a safe distance away, I chucked it at Danny and it hit him full in the face.

He sprung into a sitting position, wiping the snow off with one hand and bracing himself to fight with the other. When he realized it was just me being stupid, he rolled his eyes.

"Trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Noooo..." I smirked. I tossed another snowball in his direction. "Well, maybe a little!"

Danny ducked to avoid the snowball and smiled. "Be warned," He cautioned me. "If you fire another then you will officially declared-"

A face full of snow shut him up. Danny looked at me, amusement in his eyes. We hadn't played in the snow in God knows how long- hadn't even seen snow in over a year.

"You have officially declared war," said Danny. "And now, you must pay!"

In seconds, a snowball fight broke out. No one else was in the park, so we were free to run around the white hills, throwing snowballs, kicking up clouds of white powder as we slipped and fell.

Danny was a pretty good shot- he was able to nail me quite a few times. Then again, it was easy to return the favor.

"No fair!" I screamed as Danny tackled me from behind, dumping snow down the back of my shirt.

He laughed as I jumped around, shivers going down my spine.

Once my shirt was empty of snow, I jumped on Danny. He could hold me up pretty easily, so I didn't knock him over. Instead, we were standing in the middle of a white field, my legs wrapped around Danny's waist, laughing at each other.

I tried to get down, but Danny held on tight, swinging me around.

"Lemme go!" I laughed, swatting his arm.

"Why?" He grinned. "You can't attack me if you're like this!"

"That's why you need to let me go!"

"Nope!"

Instead, he swung me a few more times, then leaned forward, dropping me (lightly) face first in the snow.

He ran away laughing as I jumped up, screaming threats of revenge.

I ran after him, bombarding him with snowballs and laughing as he failed to dodge most of them.

I caught up to him after a while, and filled his sweatshirt hood with snow before proceeding to pull it over his head.

He caught my arm as he pulled his hood away, shaking his long hair so the snow hit me again.

I pulled away playfully when we both slipped on a slab of hidden ice, Danny pulling me on top of him as we went down.

We sat there for a while, laughing and panting and shivering.

"That was fun!" Danny panted. "I just wish my shirt and hoodie weren't so thin."

"I know. But hey, our jeans may have a few holes in em but our boots are fine!"

Danny just shook his head as he laughed.

I sat up and looked down at Danny. "I know you're the one with the ice powers, but it was foolish to engage me in snow combat."

Danny snickered, then molded his face into mock horror. "Oh dear God, you're right! I'm surrounded by snow- my greatest weakness! Oh, what a fool am I! Surely I am to meet my death here, at the hands of this ghost!"

I doubled over laughing. Danny may have hated drama in high school, but he couldn't definitely be over dramatic when he wanted to be.

"Yup! You poor, unlucky soul. You should retreat while you have the chance and perhaps I shall let you live."

"But my honor is at stake!" Danny said, keeping up with our little game. "I cannot simply run and hide! I shall fight ye, ghost, and I shall prevail!"

"But you are but a boy," I said, trying to contain my laughter. "Am I am a fearful ghost! I ghost, I might add, who is not weakened by snow as you claim you are."

"Perhaps not, but my weakness shall soon be cause of your demise."

"Ah," I grinned. "But how can that be, when you are no more?"

I tackled Danny and rolled him over to he was face first in the snow. I then lifted snow in both palms and let it sprinkle down on is face.

"Fear the power of the almighty snow! For I am the Snow Ghost an I curse you with my mighty snow powers!" I yelled, doing my best imitation of the box ghost. "BEWARE!"

Danny laughed so hard, tears came to his eyes.

I pretended to be outraged. "Laughing in the face on danger?" I flicked more snow over him. "Face the wrath of my all powerful snow!"

Danny, finally able to get his laughing under control, pretended to die. "Oh no!" He wailed over-dramatically. "I'm melting, I'M MELTING! Oh, what a world, what a world!" with that, he closed his eyes and went limp. I rolled him back over and saw how hard he was trying not to smile.

"Ha ha!" I declared victoriously. "Once again ghost has beat man! And I have brought down this... this mighty... hmm... I'd say beast, but that's not true."

"Mighty awesome dude?" Danny suggested. "Mighty fine looking man? Mighty ghost? Mighty-"

"Shh!" I hushed him playfully. "You're dead remember? Anyway... Mighty, mighty..." I snapped my fingers. "I got it! I have brought down this mighty annoyance!"

"Annoyance?" Danny asked, almost sounding offended. "What? No, I'm far too awesome for that!"

"Oh, and let's not forget modest!"

"That too!"

Danny reached up and pulled me down so I was laying in the snow next to him. He were both shivering, cold, tired, and hungry. But we were happy. We had just had some of the best fun we'd had in a while.

I looked at him- at his snow soaked hair, his pale skin with flushed red cheeks and nose from the cold.

"That was fun," Danny said, slightly out of breath. "But I think we should get ready too-"

And it was that moment that the titans decided to storm in.


	4. Snowballs and meetings- Raven

Chapter 4- Raven

I hate going out to eat with my team. I literally, legitimately loathe it. Because every time we have the same, stupid, pointless argument and every time it ends a different way. It's insanity.

"WE ARE GETTING THE MEAT LOVERS PIZZA!" Cyborg shouted, turning the heads of everyone else in the restaurant our way.

"Dude!" Beast Boy argued, appalled by the idea. "I've been like, half the animals on that stuff!"

"Then you know how delicious they are!"

I sighed and looked out side. It had snowed last night- probably the last snow we would get that season. Clearly school had been canceled that day because kids were running around, building snowmen, making snow angels, and starting snowball fights.

One little girl was drawing some strange symbol in the snow with a stick- it looked kind of like a bubble letter D with a P in the middle.

For a few more minutes, I listened to BB and Cy argue about what type of pizza o get before I finally got fed up.

"Cheese." I snarled, turning back to the table. "Get plain old cheese freaking pizza."

My bad mood must have been obvious because Cyborg called the waiter over without another word and ordered one huge cheese pizza.

After he left, Robin slammed his laptop, grunting in frustration.

"Can you not find anything on your portable answer machine?" Starfire inquired.

"No!" Robin snapped. "All I can find are stupid ghost stories!"

Ever since our ghostly encounter the night before, Robin had been glued to his computer, trying to figure out exactly who we had met.

It seemed, however, that Googleing 'ghost criminals' didn't give him the desired results.

"Did you try using the news filter?" I asked, pulling his laptop towards me. I flipped it open and tried my own search.

Robin shook his head. "No.. I didn't think of that."

I typed our new question into the search box and let out a breath of relief when some actual articles popped up.

"Find anything?" Cyborg asked, suddenly serious.

I nodded, eyes quickly scanning the article. I knew it was what I wanted because it had a picture of Green eyes and Ghost girl. True, they looked about 2 or 3 years younger then that had when we met them, but that didn't seem important at the time.

"It says their names Are Phantom and Star..." I read aloud. "And-" My voice faltered.

"What?" BB asked. "What!?"

"And we should have tried harder to fight them." I said. "It says here that they're criminals, and escaped from the last holding unit they were taken too."

Robin leaned forward, instantly interested. "What'd they get arrested for?"

"It doesn't say, which is kind of weird. But they escaped from their last holding place two years ago."

"Where did they escape from?" Star questioned. The pizza came just then, but no one paid it any attention.

"A government facility called 'The Guys In White'."

Robin frowned. "Those so called 'professional ghost hunters'? Huh." He paused long enough to take a big bite of pizza. "Why would they come here if we're here? Don't they know we'd have to turn them in?"

"I dunno," BB shrugged, shoved three cheesy triangles into his mouth. "Maybe they didn't know about us?"

"Perhaps they were seeking help..." Star suggested.

"I wouldn't blame them if they were." I commented after reading further. "Look at some of the things that happened to them!" There were about 10 very graphic pictures of the Guys In White methods.

Robin winced at a few of them. "Still... criminals and criminals and the government has to do whatever necessary to keep this country safe. If doing... _that_ to Phantom and Star was the only way to keep everyone safe then so be it."

On that lovely note, we all dove into our pizza.

For most of the meal, I kept my eyes glued outside. All the children seemed to be taking advantage of the final snow of the season, and it gave me an idea.

It wasn't until we walked past the park that I put my plan into action. There weren't too many people there and even if there had been, it was a big enough park. They'd be safe from a superhero snowball fight.

Unbeknownst to my team mates, a summoned a huge pile of snow and dropped it over their heads.

Starfire shrieked, Robin jumped a mile, Beast boy turned into a tiger, and Cyborg laughed out loud.

"IT IS _ON!_ " Cyborg shouted, launching a snowball at me.

And just like that, a super-powered snowball war was underway.

For about 30 minutes, it was every man for himself- there were no alliances, no teams.

The real world melted away as I focused on aiming, hitting, and dodging. BB and Robin seemed to be the main targets. I hit Beast boy in the face too many times to count and Robin got numerous chunks of ice down the back of his shirt.

Slowly, we backed away from each other, making uspoken alliences.

Cy and I ganged up against the rest of the team. We ran away and hid in the trees, forming a battle plan.

Cyborg was the best team mate- his blasters could be armed with snowballs. If we added the fact that I could sense where people were, then there was no way we could lose!

We began to sneak our way around the park, looking for our team mates.

We were at the base of a hill when I felt it. Something familiar. I figured it must be my friends- why else would I recognize the way a person felt?

"What's up Raven?" Cyborg whispered. "Why'd ya stop?"

"I sense someone..." I informed him.

"BB? Star? Robin?"

I shrugged. "Must be- feel like I recognize the feeling."

I wish I knew how wrong I was. If I had, I would have walked away right then and there. I would have turned around, pretended I didn't know the emotions. Life might have been different for everyone if only I had.

I motioned for him to follow me. We were at the base of a hill.

"They're over there" I whispered and pointed over the hill.

Cy nodded. He smiled and filled a snowball with oil. I smiled. This was going to be helarious! We ran up the hill and started launching oil covered snowballs at people. But these people were _not_ my friends. The poor girl and boy we started attacking yelped in surprise. Cyborg and I stopped pelting them immediately.

But of course, at that exact moment, the rest of my team showed up and started throwing snowballs, which also hit these two teens. Robin stopped in surprise when he realized that the two people he was hitting weren'tCyborg and I.

The girl and boy were now covered in snow and oil, and they did not look happy about it. The strangest part was when they saw us. Their eyes widened and they got up and started running away like their lives depended on it.

"Wait!" Starfire shouted. "We did not wish to-" I cut her off. "We scared them. Like... a lot." I said. I started flying after them, and my team followed on foot, except for Starfire, who flew next to me.

"Wait!" Beast boy called. "Let us talk to you!" the kids ran faster. After a few minutes, we cornered them when the boy tripped over a tree root. The girl had stood by him and stared at us as everyone panted.

"Can we _help_ you?" she snapped.

"I'm sorry." Robin started.

Before he could continue, the girl interrupted.

"You should be! I mean just _look_ at my hair. I'm a brunette, as in BROWN HAIR, NOT BLACK!" She pointed angrily at the oil in her hair. Beast boy looked like he was in love with this girl. He ran up to her and stared at her, and I could almost see hearts floating around him.

"I am so so so so so so so sorry! We totally didn't mean to hit you like that and..." He trailed off. "Aren't you cold?"

I noticed the teens shivering. All they had on were worn out sweat shirts. The girl didn't answer. Both her and the boy next to her looked terrified of us, like we were the people who were going to send them to their graves. It took a second, but I recognized them as the silent parade viewers.

_So they_ _**were** _ _hom_ _el_ _ess._

"We're not going to hurt you." Cyborg said reassuringly. He had taken his huge coat off and draped it over the kids shoulders.

"Why are you out here in such thin clothes? Why aren't you at home?" BB asked. Neither one answered but I could tell what was on their minds.

"They don't have any home Beast boy!" I blurted out. I immediately covered my mouth with my hand. "Sorry, that was really rude."

The boy nodded. "Yes it was."

Star pointed to him. "You are OK?" She asked him. He nodded.

"Why don't you come back to the tower with us!?" BB said. "You could stay there with us for a while! It's warm and cozy and there's plenty of food to eat!"

The two looked mortified and happy at the same time. "You- you want to help us?" The boy asked. BB nodded.

"I'm Beast Boy by the way, and that's Cyborg, Starfire, Robin, and Raven." He pointed to us as he said our names. "What are your names?" The girl took a deep breath.

After sharing a quick glance with the boy, she hesitantly said, "My name is Liz. And this is Danny."


	5. Just a car ride- Danny

Chapter 4ish (Danny)

I felt like an idiot.

If I'd been paying attention to where I was running, then I wouldn't have tripped and Liz and I wouldn't have to be stuck with the teen titans! Yes that does sound mixed up. I wasn't hurt from tripping or anything, and the weird looking car we'd seen (It was called the T-car) was warm. But The last time I rode in a car, it was when the GIW had caught me, and I wasn't used to the movement. I nearly got car sick, but I didn't. The entire ride was pretty cramped.

Cyborg drove (I thought he was a teenager, as in too young to drive!) Robin sat shotgun, BB and Starfire sat in the back seat. Raven flew above and Liz sat on my lap. She is _seriously_ light, probably due to lack of decent meals. Then of course, we both were drenched in oil (Thanks Cyborg) and the smell didn't help me.

Liz was twisted around and was trying to get the oil out of my hair. It had dried and was stuck. "OW!"

Liz looked at me.

"I'm sorry, but your hair looks bad enough when it _isn't_ covered in oil. Now hold still."

I winced as she tried to comb the black sticky gunk out of my hair with her fingers.

"I'm really sorry about that by the way." Cyborg apologized from the front. Liz shrugged.

"Just don't do it again." She accidentally yanked my hair as we went over a big pothole in the road. "OW! CAN YOU PLEASE STOP!?" I asked. Liz pulled her hand out of my hair.

"OK, OK sorry!"

BB kept staring at us. "What happened?" He asked. "Why are you two homeless? And are you brother or sister or a couple or-"

"Beast boy!" Robin snapped. "This is not the time or place to ask those questions." He sounded slightly like my mother. BB dropped his gaze. "Sorry. I'm just curious." His pointy ears dropped and he looked at us sheepishly. I shrugged.

"It's OK. I'd probably be just the same." I actually probably _wouldn't_ but Beast boy seemed happy to know that he didn't offend us. Liz ran her fingers through her hair.

"Ugh. Did you _have_ to fill those snowballs with oil? This stuff doesn't come out!" She complained.

"Na it looks good on you!" I taunted her. She narrowed her eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing!"

Liz nodded. "That's what I thought."

Starfire looked confused. "Why are you taking back a complement?" she asked. I looked at her.

"I was using sarcasm."

She looked confused. "You were using a chasm of stars?" she asked.

"No I... well. How do you explain what sarcasm is?" Robin turned around.

"Sarcasm is when you say something, but don't really mean it." he explained. Starfire still looked confused.

"Just forget it." Liz told her. Starfire shrugged and went back to staring at the back of Robins head. I wondered if those two were a couple. I had no clue 'cause Robin seemed to show no interest in his team mates being in the back of a car with two strangers. I got tired of the silence very quickly.

"Can we play some music or something?" I asked.

Cyborg nodded. "What'd ya want to listen to?"

I thought for a second. I really wanted to listen to Dumpty Humpty, but the band started in Amity Park, and most of their fans are there as well, and I didn't want to give anything away. Liz, my savior in all awkward situations, piped up at that perfect time like always.

"Do you have any songs by Evanescence?" She asked. Evanescence is like, one of the best bands in the whole world! We _love_ their music, mainly because we were once at a roller rink (Invisible and swiping a piece of cake. That's all! Don't judge us, I know what you're thinking!) and that was all they had played. That, and Liz was in love with it even before I met her. Best friends connect over this kinda stuff, ya know?

Cyborg snickered. "Do I have Evanescence? Of course!" He started the songs, and a smile spread across Liz's face. The song was _my immortal_ Liz's favorite song by this band. I smiled as Liz started singing along quietly. She has always been an awesome singer, but she hadn't been able to sing to a real song since we were captured. She still sounded amazing! She hit every note right and at the right time. When the song was over, BB was smiling like a crazy person.

"That was absolutely AMAZING!" Everyone in the car nodded and clapped, except for Cyborg who was driving. But by the size of his smile, he'd liked Liz's performance just as much as anyone else. Liz blushed when even Raven flew by the window, and gave her a thumbs up.

"I'm not that good." she insisted. I shoved her playfully.

"You were great and you know it!"

She put her hand over my mouth. "No I'm not!" Robin twisted around in his seat to look at her. "Are you trying to convince us that that wasn't amazing? I haven't heard such a good singer in a while!" Liz turned even redder.

"Yes!" Starfire said happily. "Your singing was most impressive! On my planet, you would be treated as royalty."

If possible, Liz turned an even brighter shade of red!

We turned a corner, and our destination was in sight. I gasped. The teen titans tower was literally a T shaped skyscraper. If they were trying to hide from enemies or villeins, they were failing miserably. But if they were trying to be as obvious as possible, then they were doing every thing right. "Once we get there, you guys can take a shower and we can wash those clothes." Beast boy told us. I looked at him. "And what will we wear while these get cleaned?" I asked. BB looked stumped. "Well Liz looks like she might fit in Stars or Ravens clothes... But will we do about you... My stuff sure won't fit, but Robins might." I eyed Robins ridiculously colored out fit.

"That will work!" Liz answered for me. She tried to run her fingers through my hair again.

"OW!"

She smiled. I looked out the window.

_Why is she acting so... comfortable around the teen titans?_ I thought. _It's not like we'll ever be able to fully trust them. If they found out who we really were, they'd turn us into the GIW for sure. She saw how they acted when we were just standing by. They tried to capture us, did she forget that?_

My thoughts continued all the way to the tower.


	6. Acting for survival- Liz

Danny probably thought I was crazy.

Just this morning I was scared and sore from a fight with the very people I'd sung for. I'd acted like it was no big deal to be riding in a car with the people who probably hated my ghost personality. But he didn't understand my brilliant plan. If we'd acted like we were scared of the teen titans, they would have thought something was wrong with us, and that would lead to questions. Questions would lead lies from me and Danny. Lies would lead to acting unnatural and so one until it ends up with us back in the custody of the Guys in white.

I had no intention of ever trusting these 'heroes', they're too... I guess I just don't trust people at all any more. But, if we acted like we were grateful for the help we were being given, and that we were just two teenagers who had been chased out of an orphanage by a fire, we'd be just fine. And, in all honesty, a shower sounded like heaven at the moment.

My hair was covered in oil, and so was Danny's. I was very happy when we got to the tower. Beast boy insisted on giving us, or more specifically _me_ a tour of the main rooms of the tower.

Danny was shocked at the sheer size of the place. I was impressed by how clean the place was, considering 3 teenage boys lived there. I guess you could say I've grown used to being motherly. Danny and I take care of each other, but I have to admit that Danny needs a little more taking care of then me. Of course, when the time comes, he always manages to surprise me with his ability to be caring and productive, and well... father/brotherly. But I like it. Playing the mother makes me feel important and happy.

It's kind of funny considering this one accident with me and Danny. We'd been visiting clockwork (The ghost of time) And his time staff thing had broke. It had turned me and Danny into a married 23 year old couple (Totally awkward and there had been no explanation as to _why_ ) and Sam and Tucker into 6 year olds. We'd had to go through 4 different time lines to get the pieces to fix the staff, and when we got back to clockworks, Danny's evil future alliterative self had been waiting for us, and he wasn't alone. Apparently there was an evil future alliterative _me_ and those two had gotten together to end all human life. And to make life harder, our minds were becoming the minds of our new ages. So Danny and I were starting to believe that we were actually a married 23 year old couple, and Tucker and Sam were beginning to think that they were 6. The universe truly does hate us.

The reason me being like a mother for Danny reminds me of this is because we'd had to go to the time line where Danny and I were married, and we'd had children. Then as our minds started to think the way the staff had changed too, I was acting like a mom to everyone. At the time it was weird, but now it's normal. Lol.

After seeing a lot of rooms, Cyborg got tired of Beast boy dragging us around and lead Danny off to the boys' bathroom so he could take his shower. Starfire and Raven had taken me to the girls' bathroom. Starfire happily handed me one of her out fits to change into once I was rinsed off.

I was really happy to get all the oil and dirt and stuff out of my hair. And for once, it wasn't tangled. It looked longer and felt lighter. And scrubbing all the dirt and grim off my body felt great! After a long time, I got out. I dried my hair and tried on the clothes Starfire had given me. The shirt was short and showed my stomach and back, which made me uncomfortable.

It showed one and a half of the scars on my back. The skirt was short too, but the boots were really tall like the ones I wear when I'm ghost, so I felt fine. I looked at myself in the mirror and frowned. I looked so different.

I was defiantly thin enough to pull off this look. But the whole thing was purple. Purple is my most favorite color _ever_ , but it was a really light purple, like I used to wear. It felt so weird. With my hair so long, and clean, I looked like on 18 year old girl instead of a 16 year old one.

I turned so I could see my back in the mirror. I hated these scars. It was like the Guys in white had branded me with these marks. True, the scar that was seen fully wasn't from the GIW, it was from a very painful and confusing accident.

A ghost called Phobos and attacked me and sent me into living out my worst nightmare. It was like 1,000 times worse then the fright knights sword. His suction cup had attached itself to my back and injected me with a kind of poison that triggered the part of my brain that held my fears. Again, life is not my friend.

I sighed and stepped out of the bathroom. Starfire smiled when she saw me.

"You look nice!" she told me.

"Where are the others?" I asked her.

"Waiting."

She turned around and started walking away, into the hall way. I decided to follow her. We ended up in the living room. When beast boy saw me, he smiled.

"Wow. You look amazing!" I blushed and walked over to the couch.

Danny had covered himself with a blanket and was scowling.

"You're cold?" I asked, ignoring the looks I knew I was getting because of the scars.

"No." he replied flatly.

"C'mon man, you look fine." Cyborg insisted.

"I'm not wearing this!" Danny snapped.

Curiosity overwhelmed me, and I snatched the blanket away from him. Danny turned bright red when we saw what he was wearing. It was one of Robins uniforms, but it was kinda small in him. The shirt sleeves were tight around his muscles, and the rest of the shirt was tight enough that you could tell how skinny he was. He was plenty strong, no dought about it,(all you had to do was look at his abs) but skipping all those meals had caught up to both of us. He glared at me. I grinned.

He's my best friend, but I still have to tease him every now and then. I pretended to look shocked.

"Oh, sorry Robin, I thought you were Danny." Danny played along.

"Oh no problem _Starfire."_

Oh friendship!

Cyborg laughed, and soon everyone joined in, except for Raven, who only smiled faintly. Did that chick _ever_ laughed? She reminded me a little too much of Sam. Even the color of her eyes were the same. I shuddered. I didn't want to think about that little lieing, backstabbing,*thinks some choice words*, jerk at this time.

I nodded at the unreasonably large T.V.

"You guys got a wii or x-box or something?"

Cyborg and Beast boy exchanged a glance.

"Of course!"

Danny laughed. "Wanna play?" Cy asked me. BB looked at him. "Dude, you're challenging a _girl?!"_ Cy nodded. I shook my head. "The only video game I can play is Just dance." I paused for dramatic affect.

"But _Danny_ on the other hand can beat anybody at any game!" Danny blushed.

"No I can't!" I looked at him.

"Are you kidding? You're as good as gaming as I am to singing." He smiled.

"So you admit you're good?!" I rolled my eyes.

"Just man up and play." Danny gave me a very pointed look and made a big show of taking the controller from BB. The green teen sat next to me.

"I call playing the winner!" he shouted. Robin sat at the kitchen counter, doing research or something on his laptop. Raven was reading an old looking book in the corner, and the rest of us settled back to watch Cyborg and Danny battle it out in Super smash bro brawl. I made sure to sit with my back pressed against the cushions so no one could see my scars.

Like I predicted, Danny beat Cyborg in a matter of seconds. BB looked shocked and Cyborg looked humiliated.

"You beat Cyborg! But no one _ever_ beats him!"

I smiled as Danny laughed.

"I believe you wanted to fight me?" He said, a challenging look in his eyes as he watched Cyborg scowl and offer the remote. Beast boy happily took a controller from Cy and picked his character. Danny was Kirby(his favorite player) and Beast boy was Picachu. Just like before, Danny had won in seconds.

"Alright move over!" Cyborg ripped the controller out of BB hands. "No more Mr. Nice Borg, it's game time!"

This went on for an hour or two, BB and Cy switching every time Danny beat them. Then Cy handed me the controller, instead of Beast boy.

"You try." He told me.

"What?!"

He nodded. "You gotta beat this guy!"

I shrugged and took the controller. I sat on the edge of the couch, like Danny. I'd played this game before, and I was OK at it, but I doughted I could beat Danny. I selected my character (Samus) and we started fighting. As it turns out, I was pretty good! Maybe even great! Either that, or Danny was tired. We tied. We'd been fighting for 10 minutes when both our characters charged each other and kicked at the same time.

Samus and Kirby went flying off the screen, into certain death. I leaned back, a satisfied grin on my face. Cyborg and Beast boy eyed us admiringly.

"That was impressive." Robin commented.

I jumped. I hadn't realized that he had come over and was standing behind me.

"Do it again, do it again!" Beast boy sounded like a little kid begging for cotton candy. Danny shook his head.

"No way! Kirby is way two tired to do this anymore."

"What?" I asked. "Scared you'll be beaten by a girl?"

I love teasing Danny.

"You might beat me at the video game, but in real life you wouldn't stand a chance!"

I crossed my arms.

"You think so? I bet I could have you begging me to stop in 15 seconds maximum."

Danny snickered. "Yeah ri- WHOA!"

I pounced on him pushing him to the floor. Being so close to this guy for so long, I knew his weaknesses pretty well. As soon as we were on the carpet, I started tickling his sides, right by his rids.

"Wait Liz wait! HA HA HA HA HA HA NO, NO Liz!" he laughed uncontrollably.

"What? Want me to _stop_?" he caught on.

"No Liz!" He could hardly breath, he was laughing so hard.

"You _don't_ want me to stop? OK!"

I tickled him even harder. Tears were in his eyes, and everyone was laughing too. Raven had even put down her book to come watch this.

"OK, OK YOU WIN! STOP, STOP!" Danny cried.

I tilted my head like I was thinking. "Hmm... I don't think so!"

I continued to tickle him. "LIZ! LIZ PLEASE STOP! I CAN'T BREATH! STOP!"

I smiled and got off of him. He sat up and tried to get his breath back.

"See? Told you I could do it!" I said triumphantly.

Danny rolled his eyes" Fine. What ever, _cheater_!"

He grabbed a pillow and smacked me in the chest with it. I fell back onto the couch. I grabbed a pillow and attempted to toss it at him, but missed and hit Cyborg instead.

"PILLOW FIGHT!" he shouted.

Everyone, including Raven lunged for the pillows on the couch and chairs, and anywhere else they saw one. I smacked BB, then Robin. Then Starfire snuck up on me and hit me in the legs so I fell down. Danny seized this opportunity to attack. He would have hammered me if all the pillows didn't suddenly fly up. Raven pulled them all together and dropped them on us, burring us alive. I pushed them back and started throwing them at her. We continued this until we were all so tired, we couldn't even swing the pillow.

It was about 11 pm when we stopped. Robin yawned, and suggested that we all go to bed, but Danny and I had no clue what to do. Robin thought about it for a second, then told us that we could sleep on the couch. I felt strange sleeping at the tower, but I was tired, and the couch was so soft... I shrugged and we agreed.

I looked at the clothes I was wearing. I didn't really want to sleep in this, and Robin apparently read my mind.

"Raven, Star, see if you can find something for Liz to sleep in. Danny, come with me." Danny looked mortified at the idea of having to borrow something else from Robin, but I nudged him forward and he walked off. After a few minutes, I had changed into an over-sized tee- shirt.. It was practically a dress on me. I went out to the living room and a few minutes later, Danny walked in, looking humiliated. He was wearing a plain black tee-shirt and... teenage mutant ninja turtle pajama bottoms(?) He glared at me.

"Not. One. Word."

I shook my head.

"They speak for themselves!"

He rolled his eyes and handed me a blanket. The couch was pretty wide, (probably so Cy could fit) so we could sprawl out comfortably. Danny lay down and I lay next to him. The lights turned off and it was quiet.

"Night Danny." I whispered quietly. "Night Liz." And soon we fell asleep.


	7. Normal morning, or a warning?- Raven

I woke up later then I wanted. Although, considering how late everyone was up, beating each other senseless with pillows, I guess we had an excuse. I waked into the living room, which is also where the kitchen is, and was very surprised to see BB and Cy standing by the couch.

Those two _never_ got up early. BB was trying not to laugh and Cyborg was holding a camera. I walked over to them.

"What are you-"

"Shh!"

Beast boy put a hand over my mouth. He pointed at the couch. I looked down. Danny and Liz were asleep right next to each other. It looked ridiculous. Liz in and dress of a tee shirt and Danny... What the crap was he wearing!?

Is that what _Robin_ had given him? A black tee shirt was fine, but the teenage mutant ninja turtles bottoms... that was just strange. I mean, _that_ was what the _leader_ of _teenage superheroes_ had given a boy who looked older than him? Talk about jealous.

Danny's back was press against the back of the couch. His right arm was under his pillow, and his left arm was around Liz. Liz was using her right arm as a pillow and was leaning into Danny. They looked so peaceful.

I glared at Beast boy and Cyborg. I pulled BB's hand off my mouth and shoved him back a few feet.

"What do think you're doing?" I whispered.

"Are you kidding!?" Beast boy laughed. "This is black mailing gold!"

I used my powers to crush the camera. It was louder then I expected, and Danny and Liz sat bolt up-right. Their eyes were wide and wild. It looked like they'd forgotten where they were and when they saw us, they tensed like they were going to fight. But then -almost in perfect harmony- they relaxed and realized that what had woken them was simply two idiot, immature teen boys.

Cyborgs human side of his face turned red.

"What's going on!?" Danny asked.

Liz noticed the broken pieces of camera on the floor. She gave all three of us a death-stare that could easily match up to mine.

"What is this?"

She asked. Her voice was deadly calm. I pointed to the boys and walked to the fridge to get an apple. I could hear BB and Cy stuttering out what sounded like apologies. Danny was scowling when they asked him who had given him the Pj's.

"It was Robin." He snapped. Everyone started laughing.

" _That's_ what he wears!?" Beast boy laughed harder then I've ever heard him laugh before.

I rolled my eyes. I doughted that that was what Robin wore these days, those were probably old. Liz walked over to join me in the kitchen.

"Thank you." she told me. I looked at her. "Why are you thanking me?" I asked her. "Well, I'm not one for gushy _omg-you-all-rock-you-saved-our-butts-_ happy stuff, so pretend I said that to everyone."

I like this girl.

"All I want to say is... well you guys could be all self righteous and left us in the park with an apology. But you didn't. And clearly you don't take in every homeless orphan you see, but you took me and Danny in..."

She gazed at him, having a well humored argument with Cyborg and BB about Teenage Mutant Ninga turtles and why it is still acceptable to watch it at the age of 14. Incase you didn't guess, it was Cy and Danny VS Beast Boy.

I smiled at her. "Didn't you just say you weren't gushy?"

She gave me a half hearted smile. "I used to be. Relapses occur. Just ignore those!"

Just then Starfire walked in.

"Good morning friends!"

She looked at us all. He jaw fell open when she saw Danny. Danny crossed his arms and glared off into space.

"I know, I know. I look like a 6 year old."

Starfire shook her head. "No. You look most... Robinish in those."

Danny blushed. "Thanks." He grumbled. Cyborg smiled and came into the kitchen.

"Who wants bacon!?" he asked. Liz and BB shook their heads. "Sorry, but I am a vegetarian." Liz said. BB jaw hit the floor.

"You are!?" he asked happily.

Liz nodded.

"Me two!"

Liz smiled at the green teen.

"Then what do you want? Fruit?" Cyborg asked her in a _girl-meat-rocks-you're-crazy_ tone.

"She'll eat eggs." Danny told him. Cyborg smiled.

"So you won't eat meat, but you'll eat other animal product like dairy?"

"Yup! I'm _not_ an ultra- recyclable vegetarian."

Starfire looked at her strangely. "A what?"

Liz dropped her gaze. "Never mind."

Pretty soon, cyborg was cooking eggs for everyone but Beast boy. Beast boy was making himself tofu bacon. Liz had changed into another one of Starfire's outfits, but Danny was stuck in his pajamas because Robin hadn't woken up yet.

Every one kept staring at Liz's back. One and half scars were visible. I wondered where she'd gotten them. Every one was in the middle of eating when Robin walked in. Danny ran over to him and grabbed his shoulders.

" _PLEASE_ GIVE ME SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO WEAR!" he shouted. Robin was already dressed.

"OK, OK! Jeez."

He dragged Danny off in the direction of his room. I smiled faintly.

"So," Beast boy asked. "What are we going to do today?"

"I thought we would take Danny and Liz down to the pier." Cyborg suggested. He turned towards her. "When was the last time you guys went to an amusement park?" he asked.

She thought for a second. "Like... 3- 4 years ago."

Beast boy looked at her like she was crazy.

"4 _years_? How the heak did you live!?" Liz shrugged.

"Well we were kinda busy fighting-" She stopped.

"Fighting? Who was fighting you?" I asked.

"Uh..." Liz shoved a huge forkful of eggs into her mouth. "Cabot laok wit mr mouph ull!"

Just then, Danny and Robin came back. Danny was wearing his original outfit. He looked much happier. He walked over to Liz. "Your clothes are clean too, if you want to change." Liz shook her head.

"If it's OK," she turned to Starfire. "I'd like to wear these clothes today." Starfire nodded.

"So, what are we going to do today, given that no bad-guys try anything." Robin questioned.

Beast boy smiled. "We're taking Danny and Liz to the pier! They haven't been to an amusement park in four years. FOUR!"

Danny pumped a fist in the air. "Amusement park? AWESOME!" And once everyone was done eating, to the pier we went. And for about the millionth time, I wish we hadn't.


	8. Can't even have a normal day at the pier- Danny

Oh the memories the pier brought back! Meeting Johnny 13, being split in two personalities, hanging out with Sam, Tucker, Liz, Derek, and Jessica. Of course, I didn't really _like_ all of those memories.

This pier must have been at least double the size of what the Amity Park pier was. There were at almost 2 dozen huge roller coasters, 10 little kid rides, and to many food and game booths to count. Liz smiled at the sight.

"When was the last time we did something like this?" She asked me.

I lifted a shoulder.

"With Derek and Jessica I think."

Beast Boy darted over to us. "Who's Jessica and Derek?"

"Friends from the orphanage." Liz replied with out even having to stop and think about it.

The green teen shrugged and grabbed her wrist, pulling her along as he headed for one of the biggest and fastest looking ride.

"OK, here's the plan-" he began as Cyborg and I jogged to catch up. "We hit the biggest and scariest rides first. It's early so the teens and adults aren't here yet and the lines will be shorter. Later when the older people _are_ here, we'll head for the younger rides that are still fun. Once those and done, we'll get food and go for the games. Any questions?"

"Yeah. Who made you king of the pier?" Cy asked.

Beast Boy didn't answer until we were in line.

"I did the planning, I've ridden the most rides here, and I've even fallen in the water here! I have a right to lead this major life achievement with our new guests here!"

"Beast boy, I'm not sure riding something called 'the mind eraser' can be called a life accomplishment." I pointed out.

He laughed before realizing I was serious.

"Dude, you have not live until you have had your mind made blank by the hand of twists, turns, speed, and pure awesomeness."

"Having a mind sweep isn't always as awesome as you think it is." Liz said coldly, probably thinking of the time Desiree made me forget Sam and Liz, I didn't have my ghost powers, all that stupid stuff.

However, after being forced on the ride 5 times (Thank God Liz and I barley ate breakfast!) not being able to remember anything turned into a fun time. BB lost control of his powers for a while and turned into random animals. Lots of screaming, yet no one really cared... Cyborgs blaster started attacking every single target at the games. There was a minor explosion when he missed and hit a gas tank, but no one died! I don't think... anyway, I was happy that Liz and I didn't lose control of _our_ powers!

It didn't take long for the other titans to find us.

"What happened to you guys?" Robin asked, appalled at the mess we'd created.

BB stumbled like he was drunk and put an arm around Liz's waist. She didn't push him away. For whatever reason, this made me want to toss the kid off the top of the Teen Titans Tower.

"Mind, erased." He stuttered.

"Leave a message, and we'll get back to you as soon as we remember our names" Cyborg added. Even after hours and hours of games and food and more rides, not me, Liz, BB, or Cyborg had gotten over the Mind eraser. Then again, we did ride it 10 more times...

As we were slowly making our way towards the board walk over the water. That was when Liz started to snap back to reality.

While the other titans walked to the very edge of the wood to gaze into the murky water, Liz stayed planted to the spot in the middle. Oh right, You have no idea why that is!

Liz, she grew up in California, right? Next to the ocean, on the beach, fishing all the time, surfing (She fails at it) and this is her biggest secret. She is deathly afraid of water.

"Liz, you aren't going to fall in if you walk." I said, taking her hand. She glanced at our hands. I'd never really done anything like that, and it was making my heart hammer against my ribs.

"You... you won't let me fall in, right?" Her voice shook a little. I shook my head.

"Never."

We inched our way closer to the edge. The moon reflected off the water. In normal water, it would have been beautiful, but the water was polluted and disgusting. The moon reflection looked like vomit.

I was about to suggest that we leave (Liz was refusing to go near the edge now. She stayed in the exact center of the plank) when a deep and creepy voice came from behind us.

"Hello Robin."

Every single person on the plank (Strangely, it was only the titans and Liz and I. The park was closed, so everyone else was long gone.) whirled around to face the speaker.

His appearance totally fit his voice. He was in mostly black, with a few splashes f orange here and there. A mask hide his face so well, all that could be seen of him was his left eye.

"Slade." Robin growled.

The Teens Titans looked at the man with absolute loathing.

"Where's Terra?" Beast Boy demanded.

_Who's Terra?_

"So-" Slade began, completely ignoring BB. "You have some new team members. I didn't think you'd except criminals Robin."

Liz glanced at me. It just wasn't possible that this man knew who we were. _What_ we are.

He stalked towards us. "Funny. I expected you to be meaner. Angrier. And much more evil." He leaned in close to us, his eye boring into my soul. "But I can see hope yet." His voice hissed and made a chill go down my spine.

A bright flash of light shot over our heads and slammed into Slade, and he slide back a few feet.

He looked at Liz and me. "Not going to fight? Don't you have some energy that needs to be released? Or did the government manage to _snap_ you weaklings?"

Raven stepped in front of us defensively.

"Lay off Slade. They're just two homeless kids we're helping out."

Slade snickered. And that was when all Hell broke lose. Well, it was Hell at the time.

The titans tried to fight. I could see they did. Starfire flew in circles, blasting with her star bolts, but her victim yanked her out of the sky and tossed her like a stone, and she crashed into the Ferris wheel. She didn't come back. Beast boy turned into a rhino, but his weight cased the wood to creak and groan. Liz held onto my wrist like her life depended on it. He had to switch back into a kid, and Slade knocked his lights out. Raven controlled the water and brought it crashing down on the guy, but he wasn't fazed in the least. A mini blaster came from his writs thing, and the second its amo came in contact with Raven, she was out cold.

Slade slithered over to me and Liz. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her over the edge of the wood. She kept her feet planted and strained to keep herself from falling in. And she scram. Mostly from surprise, but she was scared too.

"That's right. The big bad Californian girl that's scared of water." Even his sarcastic taunting sounded scary.

"Let go of her!"

Both Cyborg and I ran forward. Slade barley glanced back for a second before his arm sprang out towards us. I didn't realize that I'd been tangled in a net until Cyborg stated to fall. I was tried on his back. The Robotic teen tried to keep his balance, and did so long enough for me to witness the next part of the fight.

Robin charged Slade, finally able to let go of enough anger to move, but Slade stopped him. With one arm, the guy kept Liz poised over the water. He lifted her up by an arm so he was in full control of weather or not she fell. With the other hand, he lifted Robin by the scruff of his cape, almost like how Liz and I had in the jail.

"Try anything Robin, and you will fall in. I seem to remember the shape shifter doing that once, wasn't he sidelined for weeks?"

It was more a statement that a clarification. Liz glanced up desperately, and out eyes locked. She saw that I was going to fall, and I saw a plan form in her mind. The second before I fell into the water, I saw Liz put her plan into action.

"Actually Slade, a swim sounds _perfect_."

In one swift movement, she planted a goal scoring kick in between Slades legs (OHHH! TRY TALKING ALL DEEP AND CREEPY NOW SUCKER! HAHAHAHAHA!) and he lost his balance. All three fell into the river with Cyborg and I.

It was even darker under water. My cheeks were puffed out, holding as much air as human (And ghostly) possible. After flipping a few times, the net caught on a support beam, and would not move. Cyborg slashed around, trying to free himself. He clearly couldn't feel my up against his back, and he accidentally elbowed me in the gut. Half of my air escaped from my lungs.

In the distance, I could see three silhouettes battling it out under water. One went limp and the other two kept fighting. My stomach twisted; I was sure that the unmoving person was Liz. Eventually, the tallest figure began to sink and the other two went up to the surface.

I was still stuck. My lungs burned and felt like they would burst. And than Cyborg broke free. A blade had come out of his sparking armor, and he'd cut himself free. Emphasis on _himself_. The rope still held me tight to the pole. My vision was going black at the edges and I was seeing spots. I couldn't even focus enough to go ghost.

_This would be a stupid way to die_.

Cyborg was tuning in circles, trying to figure out which was was up. I tried yelling to him, but that was a mistake. I inhaled a ton of water and started to cough. Underwater.

Cyborg hadn't seen me. The water was already dark as night to begin with. He went up (apparently I was upside down) and left me coughing and inhaling more water. Yup, I was _screwed._ Just when I thought I was going to pass out (Or die), The ropes loosened. Loosened enough for me to wiggle free. But I was still coughing (Have you ever tried coughing under water? IT'S AN ENDLESS CYCLE OF NOT BEING ABLE TO BREATH AND PANIKING! DO NOT TRY IT AT HOME!) and I couldn't move. Someone grabbed my arm though. I tried to see through the wall of bubble indicating that someone had just umped in so I could see who it had been, but it was useless.

Until I saw green eyes, and a wild mob of chocolate brown hair.

_I must be dead, I'm hallucinating._

Liz wouldn't dive back into water. Especially not this water. And yet, here she was, her brown hair looking like an underwater flame, pulling me up to air. I kicked a little, but my chest was going to explode. I was out of air, and my vision wasn't clear enough to even see Liz anymore.

The world suddenly became a different shade of black. It was a whole lot colder too. And the most surprising thing? I. Could. _Breath_.

I'm not sure how long I was lying there coughing up water, probably a little bit of corn dog, and trying not to die. Liz was next to me, just as wet and also spitting up the disgusting water. Cyborg was leaning over us muttering: "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God."

I'm not sure if I remember correctly, but I'm sure Robin was a few feet from me, not moving and soaked. Raven was just waking up, but Beast Boy wasn't awake. The only other conscious person was Starfire, who didn't seem to be in to bad of shape.

"Friend Danny, please keep your eyes open!" She pleaded.

"Liz, stay with me sister!" Cyborg helped her stand. She immediately collapsed over me, one hand on either side of me.

"Danny, keep your eyes on me." She demanded.

"I'm not-" I stopped to cough up more freaking water. "Dying." I finished weakly. I felt weak. And Dizzy and nauseous. Really dizzy and nauseous. The world tilted.

"Danny!"

And I blacked out.


	9. What a hero really is- Cyborg

I am the lamest hero ever to walk the earth.

I had not one, not two, but _three_ unconscious friends to drag to the T- car. And I only had three girls to help me do it. One girl who was embarrassed to have been K-Oed, one girl who had just broken a Ferris wheel, and one girl who had just willing dived into (possibly radioactive) water _twice_!

And unconscious boys are heavy. They better be thankful that Slade didn't knock _me_ out!

After a while, Robin was fastened into the front seat, BB was in the back, and Liz had a death grip on Danny. Danny, who I had almost gotten killed. How could I have been so stupid as not to see him _right behind me!_

"Everyone ready?" I asked. Liz nodded. Her hair was a wet, stringy, mess and was falling in her face in such a think glob, I could barley see her eyes. Starfire's outfit clung to her skinny frame.

Come to think of it, _everyone_ was dripping wet. My seats are gonna be ruined...

"Cyborg, will you drive already?" Raven asked, totally annoyed. She was floating in the trunk.

I started the car forward, but I could barley focus on what I was doing.

_Slade had been there. What had happened to him. Is everyone going to be OK? What kind of hero can't protect innocent citizens from being hurt by_ _**their** _ _enemy?!_

"Cyborg." Liz said softly. I put the car on auto pilot and tuned to face her.

"Yeah?"

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Beating yourself up." She held on to Danny as we flew over a bump in the road. "You have that same look that Danny gets. You think that this is all your fault, and you should have done more, and the fate of the world rests on your shoulders. Right?"

I stared at her. How was it possible that this girl, an orphan who hadn't had a home, who didn't have powers, who basically didn't have any responsibility to a community that she had to keep safe; how could she read me so well? And why did Danny ever feel like this?

"Well yeah but-"

"Cyborg, listen to me." She cut me off. "What happened there, it wasn't your fault. It was Slades. You were trapped and it was natural to think of saving yourself first."

"Not for me." I argued. "A hero should _always_ think of others before themselves."

She laughed a little sarcastically.

"Is that what you think a hero is? No. A person who _always_ puts others before themselves is NOT a hero; they're stupid! Life is a precious gift, and you have to keep it as long as possible. A hero is someone who is willing to get hurt, die, do whatever it takes to protect others, but also themselves. But there has to be a limit. Sometimes you _have_ to let the other person take a hit, and yes, you will feel guilty for it! But you have to weigh it out. Would you rather have died protecting _one_ person, which would mean that you could never save another life or be a hero again, or let a few people get hit once or twice in order to save your strength so you can get up and fight again? Cyborg, a hero is willing to make the impossible decisions when no one else can. And it can be the hardest thing they've _ever_ had to do, but they are brave enough to face the consequences, and strong enough to deal with the guilt, or any other emotion the choice brings. That's what a true hero is."

I was speechless. What she said made so much seance, it was scary. She didn't have powers. She didn't lay down her life for anyone else. So how could she say something so deep, so truthful, and sound like she had had to make those same decisions by herself?

"How- how could you possibly? I mean, how would you know what that feels like?" The question stuttered out of my mouth.

She turned away and replied quickly. "I never said that _I_ knew what it felt like! No, um... my dad, my birth father, he was a police man, no sorry _fireman_ , before he gave me up! He just told me that once. Yeah."

At the time, I blew her excuse off. But now, long after hearing her say that to me, I understand the real reason she could tell me that like it was a fact, not repeated words.

Soon, we pulled into the garage of the tower. Sighing, I lifted both Beast Boy and Robin, and tossed one boy over each shoulder. If I wasn't so worried, I might have asked Raven to take a picture to use as future black mail.

Starfire helped Liz drag Danny in. They dropped him on the couch, while I took BB and Robin to their rooms. When I came back, Liz was the only one in the room.

"Where-"

"Star went to see Robin, and Raven went to her room to rest. You should do the same."

I shook my head. "No way. As long as Danny hasn't woken up, I'm right here with you."

She smiled. "Cyborg, that is really nice but-" She stopped and coughed harshly.

"You OK?" I asked, suddenly remembering that she too had fallen in the water.

She nodded unconvincingly.

"Liz, let me check you out. Beast boy was the only other team mate we've had fall in the water, and he was sick for a couple of days. C'mon, just come down to the infirmary with me."

Her eyes darted from my out stretched hand to Danny, and back she took my hand.

The infirmary was just down the hall, so he didn't have to walk for long.

"Just sit on a bed." I instructed. She did.

"So, your dad gave you up?" I asked casually as I set p the computer for a complete diagnostic.

"Yeah." She sighed. "I should've guessed one of you would ask me about that. You also want to hear the sob story of why Danny and I are out on the streets, right?"

"Yup!" I said cheerfully as I brought the scanner over to her. She seemed scared. Her eyes kept glancing at the equipment, to the white washed walls, and to me. Then to the door.

"Scared of doctor offices?"

She blushed. "Yeah. Something like that."

"Don't worry, this isn't going to hurt. It'll just find out if all that water is messing with your system."

That relaxed her a little.

"So, what about this sob story?"

A faint smile played across her lips.

"Fine. So until I was twelve, I lived with my mom and Dad. My dad, like I said, was a firefighter. Mom worked at home. When I was 12, my parents decided that I was to much work, and raising a teenager would be to much trouble. So mom took me out. At first it was awesome! We had lunch and say a movie. I thought she loved me. Then things went wrong. We went to an orphanage. She said it was to help other and for me to play with the kids. So I did. I played dolls with a little girl, gave piggy back rides to some younger boys, but when I was tired and ready to go home, my mom was already gone. The owner of the place, Mrs. Stayyer, told me I was going to be staying there for a while. I was 12, that excuse didn't work. I knew I'd been abandoned. So for two weeks, I was miserable. There were no other kids my age, and after a while the little kids got annoying. Then Danny came. Same age as me. His parents brought him in shoved him into the arms of Mrs. Strayyer, and left. Just like that. I hadn't really cared, he looked like a weak kid. I'd used to be one, but by then the idea of love and friendship seemed like a total lie. They just didn't exist. So I did what I normally did. I sulked, I read to a few kids, I ate, and I stared out the window imagining what my parents were doing, and what I'd done wrong. But Danny was always there. Always watching me, always close to me. For a while, it annoyed me. Who did this kid think he was, stalking me like that? He could go make friends with the little kids, just as long as he left me alone. But then it got to be not as annoying. He never talked to me, he just watched. He would play with the younger kids too, but only when I did. But he never talked. And he seemed lost. I started wondering what he had done to be abandoned like me. One night, I woke up at 1 in the morning to the sound of someone crying. The orphanage was small, so boys and girls shared a huge room. Sitting on the window sill, was Danny. He was crying, but really softy. I went up to him and asked what was wrong. It was the first time I'd talked to him. At first he wouldn't answer, but after asking again he told me it was the day before his birthday. I told him it was the day after mine. We both turned 13. And we talked together, and while we talked, we wound up crying together. After that we did _everything_ together."

She paused and smiled at me. "He was kinda acting like a little girl at the time, but we both got strong really quick."

I nodded and checked the scan. For some reason, it was having trouble. "So did you guys run away or something?"

"Kind of. We were 14. the little kids had grown up a little. They started hating not being adopted when other kids would leave. So a boy, Kyle I think it was, started a fire. He hadn't meant for it to get so big, but it did. The orphanage was in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by forest. Danny and I ran out and couldn't find anyone else, and the fire was spreading. We ran through the forest, and no one ever came looking for us. So we didn't look for them. We've been on our own ever since."

"Why didn't you ask for help?"

She shrugged. "Are you kidding? Being on our own was better than being in a place with rubber food, no hope, and chores. By ourselves, no one woke us up at 6 so we could sweep, no one filled us with the false hope that we might get adopted. We had each other, and that's all we need." She sounded so final.

"But, you're planning on staying with us, right?"

"No... you guys don't have time to keep two 16 year olds as pets."

"You could be part of the team!" I protested. "You're both amazing fighters!"

"You've never seen Danny fight."

"If he's half as good as you, he'll be fine."

"Cy," She began. "That is really sweet of you. But there are reasons we can't stay. Reasons that neither of us are going to tell you."

Just then, the computer flashed, finally having finished it's scan.

"Good news, it looks like the worse you're going to get are the minor side affects: nausea, dizziness, and maybe a sore throat."

"Great!" She stood up. Together, we walked to the living room with a new respect for one another, and me with so many questions that just didn't have answers.

Just as we sat down, Danny coughed and opened his eyes.

"Danny!" Liz crushed him in a hug that cracked his back.

"Liz- can't- breath!" he chocked out.

She retreated but still had a hand on his arm. "Are you OK? How do you feel? Your hair is a mess. You better change your clothes and take a shower, you smell like poison water. I'm so happy you're awake!"

"Slow down _mom_." Danny laughed weakly. "OK, in order: I'm alive, so I guess that's good enough, I feel like I almost died and got brought back to life for the sole reason of being sick, have you seen your own hair, no duh I'm gonna change and take a shower I feel so gross with this stuff on, and yeah. Happy to see that your alive too."

"Let's get him a scan too." I suggested after Liz had stopped laughing.

Danny looked at me like I was insane. "Get me a _what!?"_

"It's just to make sure that the evil water ghost isn't gong to kill you from the inside out." Liz joked.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Don't try to make me laugh right now. Please." He tried to stand up, but almost face planted.

"Dizzy?" I asked.

"Shut up." He snapped.

Liz grabbed his hand and pulled him to is feet just as BB and Robin walked in. BB looked fine, but Robin looked a little green.

"You're up too?" Robin asked

Danny glared at him, but said nothing.

"I'm giving Danny a health scan. Come on, it looks like you guys need one too."

Beast boy groaned. "All that happened to me was getting hit by Slade. Why do I need a scan?"

"Stop complaining Beast Boy." Robin sighed as we walked down the hall. "You never know what Slade could have done."

When we got to the infirmary, Danny took on look around and got really pale. "I heard him whisper to Liz, "I think I'm gonna be sick."

She shoved him into the bathroom, and we all heard the sound of him losing all the greasy carnival food he'd had earlier.

"You know-" BB said thoughtfully. "When I fell in the water, that was always happening to me too."


	10. Two days, no change- Danny

I gagged and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Carnival food might taste awesome when going down, but coming back up? Not so much.

"Danny? Liz asked, walking in the bathroom. This was the 4th time in 2 days that I'd thrown up. I hadn't even eaten anything else!

"Yeah?" I asked as I rinsed my mouth out with water.

"You need to eat something."

I looked at her like she was insane, which at the time, it sounded like she was. "Um, I would really like to stop tasting food twice, why would I eat?"

She sighed. Her voice was hoarse; Cyborg had been right about her getting a sore throat. "It might help to eat something that wasn't deep fried. Besides, you're going to have to eat sometime!"

"Well, someday I will. But not right now, and not today."

Her eyes rolled in a circle. "Are you OK?"

"Is that a trick question?"

She walked over to me. "Seriously Danny. You need to get better _fast_." I nodded. She wasn't lying. We both need to bail on titans, and fast. The public had already begun to notice that their heroes had two new pets.

"Do you really think that I _want_ to stay here?" I snapped. I immediately felt terrible for saying it like that. A shadow of hurt crossed Liz's face.

"OK... um... just let me know if you need anything else, K?" Her voice cracked a few times, but whether it was because of her throat or because I'd hurt her feelings.

"Liz, wait!"

She kept walking. "It's fine. Beast boy wanted me to play some video games with him, and Starfire said she wanted to hang out. So you just... rest."

I walked faster so I could catch up to her. "Li-iz!" I sounded winy, even to myself.

"Wh-hat?" she mimicked.

A heavy sigh escaped me as I glared at the ceiling. "What were you saying about food?"

A smile spread across her face. "Come on!" She grabbed my arm and dragged me to the kitchen. Unfortunately, Cyborg was also there.

"Hey guys! How you doin'?" He asked as he put the cook book he'd been reading down. I glared at him in response. "OK, never mind."

"Cyborg, would you kill me if I asked if I could cook something?" Liz asked sweetly. Cyborg thought about it. "If you were BB, yes. _But_... I dunno. Whatcha planing on making?"

She shrugged. "Something vegetarian and edible."

Cyborgs laugh sounded like a gun shot echoing through a cave. Meaning _loud_ and kinda scary.

"Like what? Wouldn't you rather a nice juicy steak, or a hamburger, or-" He stopped. I must've look just as nauseous as I felt.

"Or ya know, we got some nice simple pasta, soup, sandwiches-" he paused. "They're a little dry though."

Liz and I burst into laughter as we thought of the time we'd said something similar to Box Ghost.

" _Huh?_ _What are you doing?" Box ghost asked me, Sam, Liz, and Tucker._

" _Tasting our doom." Liz said simply._

" _And I gotta tell you, it's a little dry." I added._

" _You wouldn't happen to have any spicy mustard of doom would you?" Tuck asked hopefully._

" _Or a death sandwich with out turkey?" Sam asked as she spat out the meat she'd accidentally swallowed._

"DANNY!" Liz snapped her fingers in front of my face. "You still there?"

I shook the flashback out of my mind. "What? Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about the Box-" I stopped when I noticed Cyborg staring at me.

"What Box?" He asked.

"The... uh..." I tried to think of an excuse.

"The box of stuff that got burned in the orphanage fire. Right Danny?" Liz asked, saving us from a really awkward explanation.

"Right. The one with my favorite jacket in it." I smiled innocently at Cyborg, who shrugged. Thank the lord. After a lot of debating (And I mean A LOT!) Cyborg started making some simple pasta. After eating some (Well, _I_ called it eating, Liz called it less than a snack) Liz curled up against me on the couch to watch some TV.

"Was I right? Did eating help?" Liz asked after yawning. I yawned back and nodded.

"Fine, fine. You were right *yawn * I was wrong. Happy?" She nodded.

A soon minutes later, Liz was asleep.

"Hey." Robin said as he walked up behind me. "You feeling any better?"

I lifted a shoulder. "I guess. What about you?"

I'd forgotten until I'd seen Robins slightly pale face that he too had fallen in the water.

"Me? I'm fine. I was only in the water for a second." He looked down at Liz. "You know she's the one who saved me right? She could really fight, and it was amazing that she knocked Slade out. I mean, she was amazing!"

My eyes felt heavy. "Yeah. Yeah she's pretty awesome."

"So, is she your girlfriend?"

"WHAT?! I uh- no, I mean not really. She's like my best friend, I'm her brother, I mean she's really pretty and I love her- not like _love_ love- WHAT?!"

Robin snickered. "OK, so it's complicated. I get it."

"What about you and Starfire?"

I laughed as Robin stuttered out something like what I'd just said. Than I yawned.

"I'll let you sleep." Robin said as he walked out. I hadn't really been _planning_ on sleeping, but the TV randomly changed to the Power Rangers and the remote was on the other side of the couch. I couldn't get to it without moving Liz, and I didn't want to wake her up.

So to the sound of teens saving the world, I fell asleep.


	11. Kicking the bird out of his nest- Liz

Danny is so cute when he sleeps. When he's sleeping, it's like all the worries and hard stuff fades away. He looks... peaceful. I wish I could make him feel like that all the time. If there was, I would do it in a heart beat.

I glanced up to see what the TV was playing. For whatever reason, it was the Power Rangers... I laughed mentally as I realized that this was one of Kelly's favorite episodes. I hadn't seen the show since I was still legally her older sister.

"Hey." Robin said, jumping over the side of the couch and landing next to me.

"Hi."

I hoped he didn't want to start a conversation. Because that would be the very definition of awkward.

"I never got to thank you."

I stared at the guy. He wanted tot thank me? _What!?_

"Care to elaborate?"

"You saved me, you beat the crap out of Slade, you saved your boyfriend-"

"My _what!?_ "

Robin laughed. "Danny. He's your boyfriend isn't he?"

"I... uh..." I glanced down at him to make sure he was still sleeping. "I mean it's not _official_ or anything, I mean we've never talked about- he's awesome but- like, he's cute and strong and my best friend and has really sexy eyes and I love him, I mean I don't _love_ love him! Well, I kinda, I- _why_ am I explaining this exactly?"

Shut up. Yeah, I'm looking at you reader! Don't judge me!

Robin laughed again. "He has sexy eyes. OK then."

"What did you want exactly?"

He shrugged. "Just to talk. You've been staying with us for about a week now and we honestly don't very much about you."

"There's not much that you need to know."

"Well, I have questions. Do you have answers?"

"Depends on the question."

Robin eyed me suspiciously. Well, I assumed he was suspicious. It's hard to tell with his stupid mask.

"Tell me again, _why_ are you guys on the streets?"

"I never told _you_ to begin with."

His look was un nerving me. I knew this was coming. I really had. But I was in no way prepared for it. I couldn't tell this guy much of _anything_ , because if I did, it would built slight trust. Trust could lead to friendship. And that would just end in another piece of my heart dying when Danny and I left the Titans. Forever.

"Well you told Cyborg!" Robin pressed. "Why won't you tell me?"

"Why can't you just ask Cyborg to tell you?"

"Because, I want to make sure the stories match."

I could NOT believe this! Robin was accusing me of lying! Well, I _was_ lying, but I had a good reason to lie! It was a life or death thing. The titans would never understand that. No one would.

"Robin, the place burned down, Danny and I ran away, no one looked for us, so we didn't look for anyone. We're better off on our own."

"So, did the fire give you those scars?" Robin gestured to my side. I realized I was still wearing one of Starfire's outfits.

"No."

"Than what was it?"

"None of your business."

"Seriously?" Robin stood up and leaned over me in an intimidating way. I could feel his breath going down my neck. Didn't this guy know what tic- tacs are? "You've been living with us, sleeping under our roof, eating our food, and you don't think that you even owe us the answers to a few questions?"

"Robin, you left out fighting _your_ enemies, fighting your fights, and-" I gestured to Danny's sleeping figure. "Almost getting us killed. I'd say, we're as even as possible. So no. I owe you nothing."

He pondered this. "To- shay."

I'd thought the matter was dropped, but the guy just kept talking. Seriously, didn't he get when a conversation was _over_?

"You're an amazing fighter."

"Thanks."

"No seriously! You knocked out _Slade_. That's a major accomplishment! How'd you do it?"

Danny turned a little in his sleep. He was going to wake up soon. If I was him, I wouldn't want to wake up to a living traffic light.

"Oh ya know, uppercut to the jaw, roundhouse kick under water. Head shots really."

Robin nodded, completely engrossed in what I was saying. "And the water didn't seem to slow you down at all! And that one punch before I blacked out, it was like sparks were flying off your hands!"

Danny half opened his eyes and groaned a little. "Could you talk _any louder_?" He hissed in annoyance. "SURE!" I yelled.

"THIS BETTER!?" Robin supplied.

Danny socked the guy with a pillow. "Seriously, I'm trying to sleep here."

"And we're trying to talk here." I smiled as I teased my best friend.

After a stare off (I TOTALLY WON!) Danny just rolled over and put a pillow over his head. Not a minute later, he was snoring softly.

"So, why the mask?" I asked bird brain.

"You have your secrets, I have mine."

That was the end of discussion.

"Do you think you could teach me to fight like you do?" Robin suddenly blurted out.

" _Huh!?"_

"You could actually _knock Slade out_." He explained. "So... can you?"

"Robin!" I laughed. "I don't think I could even defeat you if we spared. I just got lucky!"

Robin got a scary look on his face. "So you admit I'm stronger?"

We didn't just go there. Now, instead of sparing him the embarrassment of getting beat by a girl, I was gonna open a can of butt kick and spill it all over the guy!

"No. But I guess we'll just have to find out, won't we?"

Danny sat up, grinning madly. "You two are going to fight? This I _gotta_ see!"

"Weren't you sleeping?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Couldn't. Not with you and bird brain here yapping so loud."

Robin looked at him. We'd only called him 'bird brain' when we were Phantom and Star. Not Liz and Danny. _Please don't be smart, please don't be smart, PLEASE DO NOT BE SMART!_ I pleaded silently.

Finally, Robin shrugged. "So gym in 2 minutes?"

"Going to get your fans?" I smirked.

Danny laughed. "Make sure they don't place any money on this!"

Robin rolled his eyes (how is it possibly to tell when his eyes rolled, yet not be able to see them?! Science, come on man!) and stalked out.

As soon as we turned the corner, I smacked Danny's upper arm (His very... firm... muscled upper arm... 0.0). "Ouch!" He yelped, more from surprise than anything else. "What was that for?"

"For calling Robin 'bird brain'."

Danny looked at me like I'd grown a second head. "You're defending him now? What dimension did I get thrown into while I was sleeping?"

I rolled my eyes. Boys can be _so_ slow. "Dude! _Phantom and Star_ called him that! We look _very_ similar, and he's a smart guy! Keep doing stuff like that, and he will figure out who we are."

Danny looked down. "Sorry. I didn't think of that."

My heart reached out to him. Here I was yelling at him for teasing someone when he was clearly not feeling well, stuck in a place neither of us wanted to be in, and he clearly needed more sleep. All for a joke? What kind of friend was I? I leaned over and wrapped my arms around him. He's my brother, my family, my best friend. I should be helping him, not being his mom!

"It's fine. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

Behind his bangs, I could see a slight smile spread over his lips. "Don't go on. You're turning this into a sappy romantic soap opera."

I could feel heat rush to my cheeks. " _Romantic!?"_

He turned a bright shade of red as well. "I uh- I didn't mean- I was just saying-"

Before he could finish, all the titans walked in.

"Whoa guys." Beast Boy laughed. I didn't understand what was so funny until I looked down and saw how _close_ Danny and I were. My left hand was on his right shoulder, his left hand was on my right hip, our legs were slightly tangled together, and our noses were almost touching. To me, being this close to Danny wasn't a big deal, but for some reason, we both turned tomato red and moved away really fast. It was Robins fault, asking me if Danny and I were dating...

"Didn't you say you two _weren't_ a couple?" Robin snickered.

"We weren't-" I began at the same Danny said, "She was just-". We both shut up.

"Aren't you supposed to be losing a fight with Robin?" Cyborg asked.

"Losing? No. Kicking butt? You bet!"

I stood and pulled Danny to his feet. My arm tingled at where his hand wrapped around my wrist. For the first time ever, butterflies floated in my stomach. My heart hammered against my ribs. It couldn't be possible... No. I couldn't _possibly_ have a crush on _Danny_! We've known each other too long. I mean sure, He's cute, and strong and protective and has the sexiest eyes...

_NO! Liz, no. You can't!_

Could I? No. Who cares about sexy eyes? Danny is _Danny_! The guy who had just about the biggest crush on a goth girl who stabbed him in the back. He doesn't like me in that way, and I _don't_ like him in that way either. Right?

As hard as I tried, there was no way to avoid Danny on the way to the training room/ gym. He looked _really_ pale and almost tripped into the wall from dizziness. I caught his arm and yanked him back a second before he would have had a fake out make out with the wall.

"Thanks." He muttered, not meeting my gaze. I put a hand on his chest.

"What are friends for?" I laughed. The only reason I realized that I was holding his hand was because the butterflies suddenly got jackhammers and thought my internal organs were supposed to be demolished. My hand felt charged with electricity. _Oh God. Oh NO! I will_ _ **NOT**_ _let this happen!_ Could you even control something like love without the aid of Embers stupid gatar? Elizabeth Master, don't do this! DON'T FALL IN LOVE!

When Robin said 'gym' I'd pictured a small classroom with a few weights, a warm up mat, and a wimpy first aid kit on the wall. I did not expect a room the size of half a football field, with more weights than I thought existed in the United States, special exercise equipment specialized for each titans, every exercise machine known to man, and a rock climbing wall. Judging by the way Danny's jaw hit the floor, he was just as surprised as I was. When _we_ were training, we'd had a very run down obstacle course, and a few old weights of his dads'. Still, I figured Danny and I were _still_ stronger than the titans, and not just because of our ghost advantage. They had 5, we had 2. They could be sloppy, we could not. These titans would ever know what it was like to have to hold their training weight when it mattered, not when you could say that you couldn't handle it; but when you _had_ to push yourself to keep it up. No, they would never be heroes in my mind.

"So..." Raven deadpanned. "You guys are gonna fight. This will be interesting."

Starfire showed me where the sparing mat was. This was going to be fun!

"Fair fight, K guys?" Cyborg asked. Robin and I nodded and shook hands. "FIGHT!"

The words had barley reached my ears when Robin lunged. I sidestepped easily enough, but he'd gotten close. He spun around and aimed a fist for my face. All it came in contact with was my palm. I twisted that arm behind him before using the advantage to push him away. He stumbled, but didn't fall. whipped towards me, and crouched, using his leg tosweep me off my it hadn't happened to a billion times, I probably would've snapped my neck.

But it HAD happened to me a billion times! It was easy to turn a fall into a back handspring and land on my feet, I shocked looking Robin gaping at me.

"Wha- how did you _do_ that!?"

I didn't answer, I attacked. I kicked straight up, the toe of my boot coming in contact with Robins cheek. His neck cracked as it snapped back.

"Told you! Head shots." I gloated.

We spared for a while. The only reason I didn't win faster was because I was _so_ out of practice. And Robin was a fast little guy! I was sure I knew the perfect movie to end this with, when my opponent ran up the wall and flipped over me. I had _not_ seen that coming, to be honest.

"Head shot?" Robin teased as he tried a roundhouse kick to the face. I jumped back, and he hit my stomach. I did a complete side arial thing before smacking into the mat.

I took a second to blink the stars out of my eyes. I looked at the audience. The Titans looked worried that I hadn't gotten up yet, but Danny looked calm enough. He knew I wasn't down for the count. But the Titans didn't... :)

"OW!" I yelled, trying to sound in pain. It wasn't to hard, the Bird Brains stupid _steel toed boots_ hurt _just fine_. Robin ran over to me.

"Liz? Liz I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you that hard!"

He offered a hand to help me up. Perfect! I gripped his wrist tightly. Then did something hilariously funny, and totally accidental. Normally when I did this move, I kicked people in the chest hard enough so I could flip them. But I hadn't done this since I was 14. My legs are much longer now and I didn't exactly remember that. Or _didn't_ until I kicked Robin _way to low_ for what I was planning, and flipped him.

Maybe it was a good thing he had the wind knocked out of him, for those of you who understood, his voice was probably _way_ higher than usual.

Oops...

"O-HO MAN!" Cyborg tried not to laugh.

Beast boy wince. "That _must've_ hurt!"

Starfire looked confused. "Please," she began. "What is the trouble with this?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "No boy _ever_ wants to get hit down there Starfire. Trust me."

Danny had collapsed on the floor. He was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down his cheeks and he could barley breath.

I hide a smile and walked triumphantly over to Robin, who had a very pained look on his face.

"Need a hand?" I offered. He took and stood up. "Sorry man." I laughed. "I swear, I _did not_ aim for that area!"

He glared at me. "Whatever." Everyone but Starfire and Robin burst into laughter. His voice frequency almost matched Starfires! He groaned. "Anyone up for dinner?" He asked after clearing his throat and dropping his voice a few octaves.

"No meat!" BB and I shouted together. I swear, his pupils turned to hearts. I turned to Cyborg.

"You eve made a homemade salad?"

Cyborg shook his head. "Sounds like an awesome challenge though!"

I nodded. "Good! Because we're about to figure it out, together!"


	12. Salad and surprises

HAHAHAHAHA! Oh Liz. Liz, Liz, _Liz!_ How you manage to make me laugh, even when I feel like death.

I wondered if she's kicked Robin down low on purpose or accident. Either way, I'd almost made myself sick laughing so hard!

Dinner turned out to be a very memorable experience!

Did I really want to eat? No. Did I want to sit there on the couch with Robin, Raven, Starfire, and Beast boy watching some stupid horror film? No. Did I want to watch BB stare at Liz with little pink hearts floating around his head as she messed around with Cyborg in the kitchen? HECK _NO_!?

I truly felt... don't judge me if I say this? I felt... _jealous_. Jealous that Liz wasn't with me.

"W _hat_ are you doing?" Liz laughed. "That goes in third, not now!"

"Are you crazy!?" Cyborg responded. "It goes in _now_ girl!"

Everyone looked at them as a muffled cry came from Cyborg. Liz immediately burst out laughing. She's smashed a handful of those mini tomatoes into Cy's face.

"Oh it is _ON!_ " he shouted. Soon, the two were engrossed in a full flegded food fight, with nothing but lettace, tomatoes, carrots, and various dressings.

I'm pretty sure I was the only one watching aside from Beast boy.

"She's a vegitarian, she likes food fights, she's great at video games; is there anything she _can't_ be?" the green teen whispered to himself.

"Yeah." I snapped quietly. "Your girlfriend."

He turned and glared at me. "Why not? She's not _your_ girlfriend."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean-"

I stopped when I saw everyone staring at me, and Liz and Cyborg were coming over.

"Ladies, gentelmen, and Robin-" Liz began

"The kitchen of Cyborg and Liz proudly present,"

"Your dinner." They said together.

Raven snickered. "Are we supposed to eat you two or something?"

It wouldn't have been hard. Liz had ranch dressing war paint on her face, lettace in her hair, was bombed with tomato juice, and had carrots glued all over with blue cheese. Cyborg was no better.

"Ha! No." Liz smile and handed everyone a plate. She saved me and Beast Boy for last.

She walked over, and handed us each a plate.

"Where's the remote?" Robin asked.

"I got it!" Liz leaned in between BB and I. I swear Beast boy's eyes turned into hearts. I glared at him.

_She's_ _ **mine**_.

I mouthed. I looked at Liz, and saw her looking over her shoulder at us. Both me and the green teen turned pink.

"Found it." Liz stood up, the remote in hand. She tossed it to Robin, who snatched it out of the air in one swift motion.

As Liz moved to sit next to me with her bowl of salad, he did the single most unexpected thing ever to happen to me. Keep in mind, I've been kidnapped, stabbed in the back by my friends and family, I'm half ghost, _I've fought a ghost who haunts box's_ , and this surprised me more than all of that.

Liz kissed me.

It was just on the cheek, and seriously brief, but _she_ _ **kissed**_ _me!_

"I'm happy you're feeling better." She whispered as though she hadn't just made me want to jump up and scream, " _YES!"._

"I- uh, yeah... I mean um..." I grabbed a fork and stuffed as much food as I could into my mouth.

She laughed and turned her attention to the horror movie Robin had selected for us. I might have paid attention, if I hadn't been distracted by Liz. And Beast Boy's jealious looks.

I suddenly noticed every single thing about Liz; the way her eyes reflected the light from the TV, the barly noticable trace of blonde in her hair, how cute her choaker looked, the way she chewed every bit exactly 7 times...

_Why am I counting how many times she chews?_

...The way my heart was beating so fast, how sweaty my palms were, how my shoulder felt charged with electricity were she was leaning against me.

_Oh God. No Danny. NO!_

I couldn't... no. That kiss hadn't meant anything, right? No, it had been a _here-feel-better-i-love-you-but-not-_ _ **love-**_ _love-you-I-just-live-with-you-and-sleep-with-you-b ut-not-like-_ _ **sleep-**_ _sleep-i-just-want-to-get-away-from-these-titans-_ , kiss. Right!?

_Danny, don't do this to yourself._

But it was to late. It had finally happened.

I've fallen for my best friend.


	13. The last thing I saw- Liz

_He doesn't like you!_

_I kissed him..._

_You're his sister, not his lover!_

_I kissed him!_

_You don't have time for a relationship._

_I KISSED HIM!?_

_He didn't feel anything about it._

_I FREAKING KISSED DANNY FENTON! OH. MY. GOD!_

My mind was at war throughout the rest of the movie. _Why_ had I kissed Danny!? I didn't even know myself. I had just suddenly felt... well, life is short. Maybe shorter for Danny and I. Why not love someone? I loved him enough, why not tell him?

_Because if he rejects you, life will suck forever._

I didn't think that he would reject me. I'd seen his little stare off with Beast Boy. But still...

I could barely focus on the movie. My heart was hammering against my ribs so loud, I'm surprised no one else heard it!

I wanted to kiss him again. I never wanted to do it again. I wanted to go further: kiss him on the lips. I never wanted my lips to come in contact with him again. GOD! I DON'T KNOW!

After the movie was over, my mind was made up. Danny is MY ghost boy. He is my best friend, by brother, _my_ guy. I loved him. And he was going to know it... someday.

"Night guys." Robin yawned before walking out.

"Night." Danny called before walking out towards the bathroom.

"Here. Starfire thought you might like these." Cyborg handed me a lavender tank top, and black fuzzy PJ pants.

"Thanks Cy! You rock."

I noticed BB shooting a jealous look at the robot.

Well be jealous. I don't care. I already _have_ my guy.

Danny came back in just as Cy and BB were leaving. As he walked past, Beast boy tripped him.

Mature.

Danny didn't say anything, he just calmly picked himself up, and walked over to me.

"Hey." He yawned.

"Wassup?" I yawned back. Stupid contagious air.

He leaned back and collapsed on the sofa.

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to die from lack of sleep." He patted the empty cushions next to him. "Coming?"

_You bet I am._

I lay down and snuggled up next to him. He had a very distinct smell. Not in a bad way, but in a comforting way. Like... he smelled like air. Before it rained. And like strawberry... must have been the shampoo he was borrowing. And he smelled like... well, like Danny. And that's enough for me.

"Night Danny." I whispered, my head tucked under his chin.

"Night Liz."

His breath ticked my scalp. I could feel his voice vibrating through his chest and on my back. The way it should be. Perfectly content, I fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes, I couldn't tell what had woken me up. The clock above the stove read 4:35.

Then I looked at Danny. He was tossing and turning in his sleep. Must be having a nightmare.

I leaned down and lightly shook his shoulder.

"Danny... OW!"

He sat bolt upright so fast, he slammed his forehead into mine.

"L-Liz?" He stuttered.

"Yeah, it's me. Who else do you think you ran into?"

He suddenly lunged forward and crushed me in a hug.

Whoa.

Something shook him up _bad_.

"Hey..." I whispered as I hugged him back. "Hey what's wrong?"

"I.. sorry." he pulled back and looked away. "Just.. just a stupid nightmare."

"Wanna talk about it?"

He shrugged and pressed his palms to his eyes.

I wrapped my arms around him.

"Calm down. Danny.. shh, Danny It's OK. I'm here. We're OK."

"Sh- she was here." He whispered shakily.

"What? Who?"

"Sam."

Screw that _stupid_ goth girl!

I gently pried Danny's hands away from his face. He wouldn't meet my gaze. I'm not sure if it was moonlight reflecting, or tears, but his eyes were glassy.

"Well she's _not_ here. If she was, I'd have kicked her sorry but off the roof by now."

He smiled slightly. "We... we're going to have to leave soon."

"Yeah, I know. I'm almost... _trusting_ these guys.

Danny pretended to looked shocked. "How _scandalous!_ "

I laughed. This is my Danny; happy, smiling, not crying.

He rubbed his eyes.

"So what did Sam do?"

"She killed you." His voice cracked on the K- word.

"She. Did. _What_!?"

OK, now I was mad. This stupid little girl who dresses in all black to stand out, who Danny had a crush on, who _stabbed us in the back_ , she was coming and murdering me in Danny's nightmares?

"Well. News flash for her. I'm _not_ dead, I never _will_ be dead, and she's _not_ going to be the reason for my life ending."

A smile crept onto his face.

"Sleep sound OK?" I asked him.

"You can. I'm going to stay up for a while"

I cuddled up under his chin, and fell asleep to the feeling of his fingers running through my hair.

"We'll get out of here tomorrow." He whispered.

I would have replied, but I was to far gone. Truthfully, it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

**TWO WEEKS LATER**

"LOOK OUT!" someone shouted.

Danny and I looked up from the TV screen just in time to dodge a football.

"What the-?" Danny laughed as we jumped aside.

He managed to snatch the ball out of the air.

"Hey," BB panted as he ran in. "Did you happen to see a football?"

Danny held it up. "You mean this?"

Just then, the other titans rushed in.

"It's _our_ turn!" Raven insisted.

"Yes," Starfire supported. "It is our turn to off kick the ball of foot!"

I laughed "You're all wrong! It's _our_ turn!" Danny and I took off for the door.

"TO THE T-CAR!"

That is _such_ a corny name!

Danny, Robin, Beast boy, Cyborg and I all crammed into the vehicle. Star and Raven flew.

"OK, here's the game plan." Cyborg stated while driving. "Liz, you're on the girls team. Danny, you're with us."

We smiled and nodded, but I knew what we were both thinking: _Park! Chance to escape!_

It wasn't even a choice anymore. We'd stayed two weeks longer than we should have. The titans were planning on making us a room.

Yes. A personal living space to live in, for long periods of time.

RED FLAG, RED FLAG, RED FREAKING FLAG!

"So, football in the park?" Danny said causally as we whipped around a corner.

"Yup." Robin nodded.

BB stared at me. "I hope that you suck _epically_ at this game! If you're even _half_ as good as Raven and Starfire, we are _screwed_!"

I grinned in a cocky way. "Maybe I'm worse, maybe I'm just as good. Or maybe, I'm _better!_ "

The looks of fear were priceless.

"We're here!" Cyborg slammed on the breaks.

"Liz. Go find the chicks and stratigize. When Starfire shoots a star bolt, we'll begin."

I nodded and glanced at Danny. My Danny...

He locked eyes with me, and I saw a clear message: Get away and find me.

Wouldn't have it any other way.

Of course, life doesn't ever take what _I_ want into consideration.

I found my 'teammates' fairly quickly. We made our game plan even faster. It was a fairly simple plan: let the guys get the ball. Once all four of them were down by our goal post (AKA two big trees) Starfire would distract the boys so Raven could steal the ball. The ball would be passed to me, and I'd run down and score. Simple.

Of course, I would have to sneak away, find Danny, and we'd have to find away to get far enough away so we could go ghost and go somewhere the titans won't find us. But the truth? I don't think Danny wanted to leave. And neither did I.

Dare I say it, I almost considered the titans my... _friends._

True, they didn't know who Danny I really were, but they knew the people we'd let them know. And well... There was a reason Danny and I hadn't left yet.

Biggest. Mistake. Ever.

Star shot her bolt into the sky, and the game began. We'd underestimated how fast the guys would get down to us.

Before we knew what was happening, BB was tackling Raven, Robin was on top of Starfire, and Danny was crushing me.

I laughed. "When was the last time you played football with some other guys?" I asked Danny as we rolled down a small hill, me landing on top.

"When we last saw Derek and Jessica!" He flipped so I was beneath him.

"And, when was the last time you lost to a girl?"

He looked confused. "Wait, what?"

I rolled us over just as the football came flying towards us. I jumped for it, but Danny jumped and dragged me down.

The ball sailed over us and disappeared into the woods.

"Time out!" Cyborg yelled. Everyone stood up.

"OK, whichever team finds the ball first gets to skip chores for the next three weeks!" Robin challenged.

"It's ON!" BB yelled.

Everyone but me and Danny darted into the woods.

We looked at each other.

"First chance you get, find me." Danny said.

I nodded and turned. That was the last time I saw him.

"Where the _heck_ is that stupid ball!?" Raven snapped, totally annoyed with the fact that we'd been searching the trees for almost an hour, and _still_ hadn't found the ball.

"Do not despair!" Starfire said encouragingly. "We will prevail."

Raven communicator buzzed. "Oh great." She deadpanned as she pulled it out. "Here we go."

When she flipped in open, instead of seeing four triumphant faces, we saw three terrified ones.

"Are you guys OK?" Cyborg asked before we could even say hello.

I nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Did something happen?" Raven asked.

The guys shared a concerned look. "Danny."

That was all I needed to hear. "What about him?" I asked as I yanked the communicator out of Ravens hands.

Robin gulped. No one answered.

"WHAT HAPPENED!?" I yelled.

"I don't know what happened!" Robin explained. "One minute he was fine, and the next he blacked out. Something hit him and-"

" _What_ hit him?" I demanded.

Beast Boy held up a little dart, and my heart almost stopped. There was GIW logo on the side.

"We think it's just a tranquilizer dart but- Liz are you OK?"

I was not OK. I was anything _but_ OK. I felt like I was going to throw up, pass out, or both.

They'd found us. Holy crap. The Guys In White had found us. And they were already after Danny, how long until they found me?

"Where are you guys?" Cy asked. "We'll come to you."

Raven closed her eyes and focused.

"Go east about half a mile. We won't move."

The guys nodded and the screen went dark.

I sat down hard on the ground and leaned against a tree.

They were here. It didn't matter what the Titans did, they were here!

"Do not worry friend Liz." Star said reassuringly. "Things will get better."

She was wrong. They were only getting _worse_.

"Elizabeth Masters." A voice hissed. A voice that had haunted my dreams for two years.

Agent J.

"Who's there?" Raven demanded.

"I see you've made some new friends." Agent K said. I still couldn't see them. They could have been anywhere.

"Who are you?" Starfire asked, turning in a full circle.

"But you and your boyfriend are in my possession now, and you won't get away." A third voice I didn't recognize concluded.

All three Guys in white suites emerged from the trees.

"Liz, who are these people? And how do they know you?"

"K, J, and..." I looked at the blond agent I didn't know.

"O." he supplied.

"K, J, and O." I spat out their 'names'.

"We're the guys in white, and we've come to take this villain." J explained.

" _What_ villain?" Raven asked.

My heart hammered in my chest. They were right here in front of me. My worst nightmare.

"What did you do to Danny?" I snapped.

"Knocked him out and locked him in the truck." K said casually, the way someone might say "I'm going to get a snack."

"You attacked a person under the protection of the Teen Titans!?" Raven sounded shocked. "Are you people _mental!?"_

O shook his head. "You see, I don't believe you want to say that they are under your protection. Not with their criminal record."

Raven turned on her hell to glare at me. " _What_ criminal record?"

I glanced at Starfire and Raven, both with accusing and hurt looks on their faces, and to the agents, who no dought had concealed weapons.

"We don't _have_ criminal records. Not ones with anything _true_ anyway."

"Why would they lie?" Starfire asked innocently.

The three guys laughed. "Oh this is rich." K sneered. "You never told them who you are?"

All three pulled some sort of pain inflicting device out of the jackets.

I had to go ghost, not only to protect myself, but to protect Raven and Starfire too.

I looked at the girls. "I- I'm sorry."

Ravens jaw hit the ground, and Starfire covered her mouth to stifle a gasp as I went from being Liz, to being The Star Of Amity Park.

"You. It was _you_ at the jail!" Raven stepped back.

"We never meant to hurt any of you!" I insisted. "We never imagined that you guys would take to your house to _live_ with you!"

"Ha!" J snickered. "You didn't know you were housing two of the most wanted criminals in the U.S? Funny."

K rolled his eyes. "Of _course_ they knew. They're the ones who told us that the punks' were here!"

I glared at Star and Raven. " _You_ told them?"

" _Robin._ " Raven hissed.

"We were not aware at the time-" Star began. But I wasn't interested. The Guys In White were here, and they had Danny. I had to get him, and then we had to get away. Far, _far_ away.

I started launching electricity, fire, ghost rays, _everything_ I had at random. I didn't care who I hit.

But the GIW had gotten better. Screw them.

"Why do you resist?" O asked.

"We already have the boy." K added.

"No, you _don't!_ " I scram. "YOU WILL _NEVER_ HAVE HIM OR ME AGAIN!"

One of the most powerful blasts of electricity I'd ever shot hit J. He fell on his butt, this newly grown mustache and hair sticking out at odd angles.

K and O grabbed my arms, but Star and Raven pulled them away.

"Stop!" Starfire pleaded.

"There has to be a misunderstanding." Raven supplied.

_Why are they defending me?_

"I'd say I hate to do this, but I'm not one for lying... most of the time." K pulled two little metal disks out of his pocket. As soon as they came in contact with the titans girls, they were out cold.

"What did you _do_?" I demanded. No one answered me.

O pulled a gun I'd never seen out of his blazer and pointed it at me.

"Die, ghost girl."

The last thing I saw was O pull the trigger.


	14. What I'm sure of- Raven

I was losing conciseness fast. When I heard the bang that signaled a gun being fired, I thought for sure I was hallucinating. They wouldn't shoot me or Starfire!

Right?

I was correct, they didn't shoot a titan girl.

They shot a _ghost_ girl.

A girl who had been sleeping on my couch.

A girl who had let Starfire and I use her a guinea pig with new outfits.

A girl who cooked with Cyborg.

A girl who played video games with Beast Boy.

A girl who spared with Robin.

A girl who _lied_.

A girl who shot me a look of fear, hate, and pure betrayal as the bullet entered her stomach, and she collapsed.

A girl I'd just let get kidnapped.

Liz didn't make a sound as she got shot. For a minute, I thought O had missed. No such luck. Time seemed to slow down as I witnessed what happened. I will never know if what I saw was truly accurate, or just a hazy fantasy brought on from being drugged.

Liz took half a step back on impact, but that was about it. At first, she looked calm. Like she expected this to happen. Then her eyes widened slightly as her brain registered just what had happened. Her hand briefly touched her black clad side. When she held it back up, her glove was scarlet with her blood. Her blood, which also had a slight green glow. Her mouth parted slightly and she looked at me. Not Starfire, Not K, not J, not O, _me_. Her glowing purple eyes bore into my soul.

_You did this_.

I'm not sure if she said that, or my mind.

She looked at her waist, where her clothes were quickly darkening. Her legs suddenly couldn't support her. As she began to fall, she changed. The White hair turned brown, started purple eyes were replaced by fearful green ones, a black shirt was replaced to Starfires lavender one, and the black shorts and boots melted into a skirt and boots. The change was almost instantaneous, but seemed to last a life time.

Her knees hit first. Then her hands and arms. She looked up for a single second, this time, at the man who shot her. Who was going to kill her. And a single silent tear rolled down her cheek. No sooner had it fallen from her eye then they closed. Not in a peaceful way, like she was sleeping. No, when Liz's eyes shut, they shut with a seance of permanence. They would _never_ open again. And if they did, it would not be that same girl that looked out.

And as that single tear fell from her face, her head hit the grass. The _thud_ still echos through my nightmares.

"Looks like the ecto bullets work!" O said cheerfully.

"Let's beat it, before the chicks wake up." J agreed.

Then the world was black.

"Raven. Hey Raven. C'mon, please wake up!"

I opened my eyes only to be greeted by a concerned green boy leaning over me.

"W-What happened?" I asked, my voice not quite steady yet.

I glanced around and saw Robin sitting on the ground, a half awake Starfire cradled in his lap. Cyborg was standing off to the side, glaring at the trees like the might attacks.

"We were hoping you could tell us." BB replied.

"Did someone spill a cherry soda?" Robin asked, pointing to a mysterious red stain on the grass.

_No...Where did that come from?_

The grass surrounded the stain was flattened, like some had fallen...

Oh my God.

" _LIZ!"_

Starfire suddenly came to life at the sound of that. She began to sob into Robins chest.

"What? Liz? Hey Starfire, it's OK." Robin tried to sooth her.

"No." she sniffed. "It is _not_ OK. Friend Liz is... is..." She couldn't stop crying long enough to explain.

"Rae, what's she talking about?" Cy asked me. "I don't see Liz anywhere. What happ-" They all must have seen the look on my face.

"This isn't a good story, is it?" Beast boy said gently.

I shook my head. "She... she and Danny... they're the ghosts who fought us at the jail."

The three laughed nervously.

"Raven, I think you may have hit your head. They _can't_ be-"

"I'm _not_ crazy!" I snapped, cutting Cyborg off.

"Listen to me. They're.. _ha_ _l_ _f_ ghost half human."

"But," Robin began, raising his voice to be heard above Star's tears. "That's impossible. A ghost is _dead_. How could they be half dead?" he snicked in a nervous way. "I mean, they only report of any people even _slightly_ close to what you're saying were Danny Phantom and The Star of Amity Park. You remember them right?"

"Yea. The ghosts from New york. The ones that were captured two years ago..."

I trailed off. Every thing suddenly clicked. Those ghosts were _Danny and Liz!_ How could my team not see this!?

"Raven, you can't think-" BB began.

Ignoring his lecture on how impossible my claim was, I pulled out my T- communicator and Googled pictures of Danny Phantom and The Star Of Amity Park.

"There." I declared proudly, showing them the best matching pictures I could find. "Tell me they don't look familiar."

They crowded around.

"I see younger versions of the people that we met at the jail." Robin said matter a factly. "So what?"

"No wait!" Beast boy leaned in closer. "It... no. There's _no way_."

"It's them." Cyborg clarified. "No one other boy could have that same haircut was Danny. Even if it is a little shorter than what we're used to seeing."

"And there is not a girl on this planet who could have the same look in their eyes as Liz does." BB paused. "Or the same necklace."

"You remember the story of how the Guys in White captured them?" I asked.

They shook their heads yes.

"They came back. I'm positive that that's who knocked Danny out. Then they came here."

"Did they hurt you?" Robin asked, concern in his voice.

Star sobbed harder.

"Us? No... But... they did hurt someone."

Beast boy turned in a full circle, looking for the girl he so obviously had a crush on.

"Liz. Where is she?" He demanded in panic.

"They... he had a gun and- we tried to stop them but the knocked us out-" I could seem to be able to say it.

"They... _shot_ her!?" BB squeaked.

I could only nod, the sound of Star crying the only sound that could be heard.

"We have to save them." I broke the scilence.

It was plain to see Danny was no longer with the boys. I'm not sure _what_ they did with him, but he was probably in the back of an unmarked white van, bound and scared, while Liz died at his side. Or, they both might already have been killed.

"No." Robin said flatly.

" _WHAT_!?" everyone yelled.

"I know I sound like a jerk-"

" _Sound?"_ Cyborg sneered.

" _But_ , we can't. Listen to me, those two _lied_ to us. If they really are the Star of Amity and Danny Phantom, then we all know they were arrested for a reason. Because they were criminals. They didn't tell us they had a... _condition_ , they didn't leave when they should have, they basically hid under our roof to save themselves from the law! They can't be trusted."

"He's right Rae." Cyborg agreed sadly.

"What!? Are you guys _insane_!?"

"Raven," Beast boy sounded crestfallen. "Robin has a point. They've been arrested for everyone's own good. The Men In White or whatever told the whole world what they did two years ago. Remember?"

I did remember that. But I also remembered the short conversation that had happened between Liz and the agents.

_O shook his head. "You see, I don't believe you want to say that they are under your protection. Not with their criminal record."_

_I turned on my heel to glare at Liz. "What criminal record?"_

_She looked at me, begging me to believe what she was about to say._

_"We don't have criminal records. Not ones with anything true anyway."_

"Guys... did they ever provide... _proof_ of what they were accusing Danny and Liz of?"

No one could think of any.

"Raven, it was two years ago. Face it. They were just a second version of Terra. Let's just go home."

I was about to protest, but Starfire beat me to it. And she did so in the least way expected. She stomped up to Robin, finally having been able to slow her tears, and smacked him _hard._ Right across the face. The sound echoed as Robins head jerked to the side.

He looked at her in shock. Everyone did.

Star had _never_ done anything like that! With her Tamerainian strength, I'm surprised she didn't break his face. His cheek was a nice shade of red though.

"You, you-" She said something in Tamerainian that I'm sure wasn't a compliment.

Then she took off into the sky. I followed her.

When we got to the tower, Star ran off somewhere to cry. I went to my room to do some research. Danny and Liz were innocent. I knew it! Liz had practically said so, and she'd said it with to much emotion for it to be a lie.

I flipped my laptop open.

_Hmm... what do I search for exactly?_

After a while, I just searched what I'd done before I even knew them: half ghosts runaways.

Tons of pictures and articles appeared on screen. Some had titles that specified only Danny or Liz when in ghost form, and some were about them together. For whatever reason, there were many articles that were about the two when in human form as well.

_Fenton family failiers._

_Masters mastering fatherhood._

Finally, I choose one of the oldest ones I could find. With wide eyes and an open mind, I began to read.

_Meet the mayors daughter! By Cindy Adrian. You heard it right folks! Our own_ _vice-_ _mayor Vlad Masters, one of the richest men alive, has adopted a child! Masters was vacationing in his Wisconsin home_ _when he heard about all the orphans in California. Forgetting the last week of his vacation, Masters flew to California where he met Elizabeth O'Connor, his soon to be daughter. "Out of all the children I met that day, Elizabeth touched my heart." He told the Amity park times. The 14 year old girl had been in the orphanage for two years, since she was 12. Once the papers were signed, it was off to Amity Park. Elizabeth was enrolled in the local Caspar high- high school, where she immediately befriended Danny Fenton, Samantha Manson, and Tucker Foley. Elizabeth now has a very happy home in her new fathers heart, and as the sweetheart of Amity Park!_

There were two pictures beneath. One showed four kids smiling at the camera, their arms around each other. One of the kids was Danny. Good God, was he different!

I could hardly believe that this was the same guy that had been sleeping on my couch for the past three weeks. The Danny I knew had black hair that was long and falling in his face. My Danny had a hard look on his face. My Danny was hard, broken by his past. The Danny in the picture was very, very different. This Kid had the same basic hairstyle, but it was shorter. The kid in the picture had a stupid, arrogant grin on his face. He had a red and white shirt on and light blue jeans. He was innocent. He wasn't hard. But it was him.

Next to him was a goth girl that looked scarily like me. I gasped out loud when I saw a girl who must have been Liz. If I thought Danny looked different, then Liz was an alien.

The girl in the picture had the bangs covering her face, but her hair was chin length, not shoulder. Her green eyes were as piercing as ever, but instead of being hard, cold, and critical, the girl in the picture had eyes that danced with happiness. Then there were her clothes. The only thing I had seen my Liz in was either Starfires outfit or a black hoodie and jeans. This girl had a bright purple tee- shirt on with a black star. The only way I knew for sure that this was Liz was because they both had the necklace.

It was one of the simplest pieces of jewelry I'd ever seen; a black chain with a basic star charm on it. But they both had it. I wondered what was so special about it.

My eyes drifted to the final person in the picture. It was a colored guy (Not to be raciest or anything) with nerd glaces and a red barter. He had a yellow long-sleeved shirt on. I almost smiled.

_So those were their friends... what happened?_

I looked at the next picture. It was of Liz and some older guy. The guy had a goatee and a ponytail- all a nice shade of white- Grey. So that was Vlad masters. But I still hadn't figured out anything that Liz and Danny had done wrong. If anything.

Sighing, I clicked on anther article.

_Ghost kids come to Amity Park! By Cindy Adrian. Today was a very strange day at Caspar high high school. Being the first day of a new, all recyclable vegetarian_ _menu, the school was attacked by what appears to be the ghost of the schools first lunch lady. The ghost pointed out that the menu had been the same for 50 years and kidnapped Samantha Manson and Elizabeth Masters upon learning that this change was the_ _ir_ _doing. The ghost was trying to torture the girls by feeding them poisoned meat when a ghost boy saved the day._ _The two hostages escaped when yet another ghost, this one female, entered the fight. These two ghost_ _s_ _fought the lunch lady away. No one knows who these ghosts are or where they came from. Are these two ghosts friendly heroes here to help with problems like maniacal lunch lady's, or are they here to deliver a much worse fate?_

I frowned. That was... strange. I clicked on a few other articles.

Dang these guys had seen it all! Evil ghost dragons, a wishing ghost, Ember (she was a ghost!?). There were evil rule followers, overgrown plants, a box ghost (WTF?!), a technology controlling ghost, a ghost hunter (It's gotten to the point where this doesn't scare me), even an evil ringmaster!

_Is there anything they_ haven't _fought?_

Oops, spoke too soon. Let's not forget the weather controlling ghost, their feature alternative selfs, a mirror dimension of every one, and some guy named Plasmius.

Now I understood why their emotions had been so... scared. I click on an article "ghosts busted!" I began to read.

_Location of ghosts found! By Cindy Adrian._ (did this chick write EVERYTHING!?) _After the random appearance of Inviso- bill and Inviso- belle,_ (?) _the coming of all these ghosts has been located! Local residents Jack and Maddie Fenton are professional ghost hunters. A ghost portal along with many other ghost related weapons were found in the families basement. "We had no idea that these problems were our doing," Maddie Fenton claimed. "But you can be sure that with the Fentons' on the case, no ghost will ever show it's face in our fine town again!" The couples children Jasmine and Danny Fenton were interviewed as well. "My parents don't know what they're talking about," Jasmine insisted. "They would never harm a hero!" The youngest Fenton agreed. "What they do doesn't always make sense, but when the time comes, I know they'll make the right choice."_

Below there was a picture of a family. A fat guy in an orange jumpsuit grinned in a stupid way at the camera. The orange guy was holding a blushing woman close to him. She had short brown hair and a blue jumpsuit. A teenage girl with orange hair had her arms crossed and was glaring up at her parents. Then there was Danny. Smiling like he knew the greatest secret in the world, but her couldn't say what it was. I wondered if his parents knew who... er... _what_ he was.

I went to another one: Exchange students.

_Please help me._

_Exchange program By (_ Who would've guessed!) _Cindy Adrian. Today was the first of our local high school's exchange program. 20 students were randomly selected from our school and from North-bird high school, California. To our towns sweetheart, Elizabeth Masters, this brought a pleasant surprise! North-bird taught grades 6 through 12 so this was where she had gone to school before joining us in Amity Park. Her two best friends from her old school, Derek Smith and Jessica Boston, had been sent to our little town! It was a very happy reunion where the school found out that Derek was Elizabeth's long lost boyfriend. "It's such a Romeo and Juliet plot line!" Mr. Lancer, one member of the school's touched staff told us. "Pfft. She could do_ much _better." Quarterback Dash Baxter insisted. "_ _Just as long as that girl stays away from the ghost boy, I couldn't be happier for Liz!" Popular girl Paulina informed us. Below is a picture of the reunited friends._

I glanced at the picture. My only thought; Whoa. There was a blue girl. Literally.

She had blue eyes, blue eye shadow, even parts of her brown hair was blue! She had a blue shirt with a white strip that was so small, it exposed her midsection. She had black lipstick, which was a nice change from the blue. She had bright blue skinny jeans on and black boots.

The Boy was a different story all together. His hair looked like fire. Most of it was light brown, but parts were dyed red and it spiked up like flames. He had warm playful brown eyes, and a sarcastic grin that made me want to hide every sharp object and form of caffeine from him. His shirt was such a dark purple, it could have easily been mistaken for black. Fake flames danced across his chest. He had black jeans on with a belt that had a skull on it. His sneakers were black also.

I went back to reading.

_Will this love story last after so long? Is there a romance between Danny phantom (_ he'd gotten a name now?) _and a normal school girl? Is the Star of Amity Park (_ OK Liz got a name too) _getting jealous? How will this end!?_

I almost scram. I'd been reading for almost three hours and all I'd learned about was Danny and Liz's lives _before_ some tragic thing had happened. I was almost ready to give up when an article caught my eye. It was one of the newer ones. "Ghosts WANTED!"

_That doesn't sound good._

_Ghosts wanted By_ _Cindy Adrian._ _Everyone in the town of Amity Park is going through scary times. As the Guys in White, a ghost fighting government agency, has informed us; our ghost 'heroes' were not what they seemed. "They are dangerous!" agent K insisted. "All ghosts are. We've been after they two ghosts that infest your town for years. I suppose they thought that acting like heroes would save themselves. But we know what they've done. Murders, robberies, and much more. They are not the heroes they claim to be." Our sources tried to interview the suspects. "we've done nothing!" they insisted before disappearing. Below are some file photos._

Two pictures, two ghosts.

If I hadn't seen the previous pictures of Danny and Liz at age 14, I would have never believed that these ghosts were them.

Danny still had the snow white hair and green eyes, but his jumpsuit had changed. His collar was white as well as his boots, gloves, and belt. He had a logo on his chest. It was a D with a P inside. Danny Phantom.

Liz was completely different. She was in a short sleeved black shirt with a neon purple star on it. Her gloves didn't cover her arms all the way, and they were the same neon purple. So were her boots belt and eyes. Those were definitely them same eyes. Her hair was the same color as Danny's. Her boots were shorter too.

I ditched the rest of the article when I saw one I _knew_ I had to read. They title scared me. "Ghosts captured." I leaned forward and read as fast as I could.

" _Ghosts captured By_ _Cindy Adrian_ _. So sad these days. The ghost action that once made the Amity Park times everyday has ceased completely. Our ghost 'heroes' have been taken away to the GIW HQ for experimentation, and all attacks seem to have stopped. The Star of Amity Park and Danny Phantom were attacked yesterday at 4:_ _27 pm by the GIW. After putting up a decent fight, they escaped to Fenton Works in hopes to escape back to their ghostly home through the family portal. Fortunately, the GIW were waiting. Witnesses stood outside the building and watched as the ghosts they once called heroes were dragged away unconscious._

I skipped a few paragraphs to were something had been added. It was about what was going on at the GIW HQ!

It was mostly pictures... pictures of torture. There were ones of the ghosts knocked out, of their cell, of their labs... There was a picture of Danny caught mid- scream, and much much worse.

I couldn't finish looking. At the very bottom of the page, there was a new edit.

It read _ATTENTION: Subjects Danny Phantom and The Star of Amity Park have escaped! If seen, please email us at guyinwhite or call the following number- 720 942 7659._

That was it. I had learned more then I ever wanted to know. But I was sure of a few things now.

1.) Liz and Danny weren't the criminals they were being made out to be.

2.) No one knew they were only half ghost, maybe not even the guys in white.

Suddenly a new tab popped up. It was a news article that had just been posted. When I read the title, I almost fainted.

"Ghost re-caught."

I read the first three lines before I ran to get my friends. The three lines were very clear.

_Ghost runaways captured! This time for good! The Guys in White plan on ending their nonsense, permanently._

I was now sure of one more thing; Danny and Liz were about to be killed.


	15. The return- Danny

"Uhg." Beast Boy groaned. "The girls have _better_ not find the ball before us!"

Cyborg nodded in agreement. "I know. They'll never let us hear the end of it if we have to do double chores for the next three weeks."

I barley paid attention. I was to busy thinking about a way to sneak away, find Liz, and escape. And I had to pretend to look for the football.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a twig snapping. It hadn't been any of the titan boys either. I peered into the densely packed trees trying to see who it was.

An adoring Fan?

A reporter?

An animal?

I saw a glimpse of something white.

A Guys in White agent?

I didn't have time to register the thought before something cold and sharp pricked my neck.

_Oh_ _crap_ _._

"Guys-" I could already feel the affects of whatever hit me set in.

"Yeah Da- _Danny!?_ "

BB ran over to me, the other titans hot on his heels.

I don't remember falling, but one minute I was standing and the next, a face full of dirt grass and leaves. 5 Robins swirled above me.

"Danny! Danny what happened?" They asked.

I couldn't answer. My entire body was numb, and my eyes were feeling heavy.

I felt the cold thing leave my neck and saw Cyborg hold it up.

"A dart?! But who would attack us? Or him actually."

I'll tell you who. The guys that had their logo on the side of the dart.

The Guys In White.

No sooner had I thought it, than one such agent walked out from the trees.

"Oh my, he doesn't look to good."

"Who are you?" Robin asked suspiciously.

"I'm a paramedic that was just walking past. You know, the guys and I brought the van with us on the picnic we're on... What me to take him to the hospital for you?"

I blacked out before I could protest.

"Ow..." I muttered as my face slammed into something hard and cold. I blinked a few times so my eyes could adjust to the pitch black of wherever I was.

When they had, I was to scared to breath. I was in the back of a truck. Not just any truck. No, _this_ truck, or van actually, I knew. I'd been here before. In real life, and in nightmares. I'd relived waking up here the _first_ time in the middle of the night to many times to count.

I was bound and gagged in the back of the Guys in White van.

Dear God help me.

But wait... If they had me, had they gotten Liz too?

My answer came in the form of a speed bump.

My head whipped back at the sudden motion of the van, and hit the wall. And something- some _one_ \- came rolling towards me.

" _IIZ!"_

I yelled best I could through the gag.

It was her. She was motionless in front of me, an unidentified wound in her side bleeding enough to have her ecto plasmic blood slightly illuminate her form. It took a second, but it suddenly clicked as to what was wrong with her.

She'd been shot.

Anger flooded my every nerve.

How dare they? How could they?

Suddenly, we stopped. The back door opened, and I was momentarily blinded.

"Oh good. You're awake." K didn't sound happy about it as he pulled the gag away.

"Why do _I_ have to carry her?" J complained. "She'll get my suite bloody."

An agent I didn't recognize stepped forward. "Deal with it. K knocked ghost boy out, and I dealt with the girl. Your turn."

" _You_ shot her!?"

They looked at me like they'd forgotten I was sitting right there, scared out of my mind, and pissed off enough to kill them then and there.

"Yes. I did. Quite a sight too. Actually got a tear from her! Of course, we had to take care of those silly titan girls-"

"What did you do to them?"

O laughed. "What do you care? They're the ones who turned you in."

It felt like my blood had turned to ice.

"No... no, you're lying. They wouldn't-"

"Why wouldn't they?" J rolled his eyes. "You are both criminals. We've known where you were for weeks. Almost a month. Did you really think you'd be able to hide forever?"

I swallowed. This wasn't a dream. I was caught. Liz was shot. We were as good as dead.

"We're wasting time." K spat. "Up."

I looked at him. "I kinda have my writs bound to the floor genius."

K grabbed my arm and pulled, _hard_.

"OW! What part of _bound to the floor_ did you not understand?"

He pulled a key out of his pocket in response. Before he let me up, he dragged Liz out.

"J."

J clearly didn't like it, but he picked Liz up and walked towards the building. The building that is in Amity Park.

Across the country.

"How long was I out?!" I asked, not really expecting an answer.

"A day." K monotoned.

As soon as my handcuffs weren't stuck to the floor, O shoved me out. Face-planting on gravel stings, just for those lucky people who have not had the experience.

"Move." The ordered me.

"And If you try _anything_." K hissed, leaning closer. "You will feel more pain then you thought possible."

My eyes widened. I knew he wasn't bluffing.

"You have Liz. Why would I do anything with out her?" I questioned.

Big mistake.

My handcuffs vibrated in an uncomfortable way. Soon, it went from uncomfortable to painful. Like I was getting pricked by thousands of tiny thorns. I winced, and it stopped.

"A mere _fraction_ of what those can do." O smiled, which looked more like a grimace. "Don't make us mad. If you make us mad, you make _those_ mad. Make those mad, and I doubt you will ever be able to use your hands again."

K grabbed me roughly around the neck, and lead me in.

The place had changed since I was trapped there last. There were more security cameras, agents patrolling everywhere, much more technology, and a nice looking lounge area.

At first, I tried keeping track of where we were going, but it was hopeless. When the Guys finally stopped at what I assumed was my cell, I felt like I had just walked from here to Jump.

"We have both audio and video surveillance here." K explained, opening the door. "We will be able to see and hear everything you do. Get out of hand, and you will be punished. You will be escorted only to tests and back again. You won't be going anywhere else. Try anything to escape on these escorts, and there will be consequences. Do anything we don't like, and you will be punished."

The door slide open and I was shoved inside. Liz was in a heap on the floor.

O reached out and yanked my arms towards him. He unlocked the handcuffs and pushed me away.

"These will be put on while you are outside this cell. Your first test will be at 3PM. Have fun now!"

The door shut, and I was stuck in darkness.

It suddenly sunk in just where I was.

I was in a holding cell at the GIW HQ.

Liz was shot.

The Titans had handed us over.

I was alone.

I was screwed.

And most of all, I was _terrified_.

I felt sick suddenly, and sat down hard on the floor, my hand over my mouth. I'm not sure if it was to keep myself from throwing up, screaming, or flat out crying.

My cell was small. Bigger than the one I'd been in two years ago, but still small. If I stretched out all the way, I'd have to bend my knees to stay flat. The ceiling was high though. Either that, or it was to dark to see.

I looked at Liz. My chest tightened.

Oh my God.

She was _shot_.

I scrambled over to her and checked for a pulse. I wanted to jump for joy when I found one. Not the strongest, but still there. Kneeling down, I assessed the damage. I'm no doctor, but I was still sure she was in trouble.

I wasn't going to do anything like rip her shirt away or anything to see, so I had to focus on what I saw. She was still wearing one of Stars outfits', so I could see some of her side at least. It looked like she'd been hit right beneath the ribs. Scarily close to her rib cage actually.

From what I could tell (Which wasn't much) it looked like the bleeding had slowed. You'd think that would be comforting, but it wasn't. It was still a steady stream of blood. If that was slower, I hated to imagine what faster had been like.

_What do you do when someone's shot and there's no medical help?_

In movies, the hero just wrapped a strip of cloth or bandage around the wound, and they were fine. But this wasn't a movie. I couldn't just pause everything and think of a solution.

_Pressure. To slow the bleeding._

OK... Pressure. How do I do that?

I put my head in my hands to block out reality. This could not be happening. I could not go from sleeping on a couch with Liz, in the titan tower, to _this_ in just a day... could I?

Truth was? I could. And I did. Not just now, but the first time this happened. How had I even survived that? I though back to that day, two years ago.

-Flashback-

_"Will you calm **down**?" Liz snapped as I paced in front of her._

" _Are you crazy!? They caught us. They kidnapped us. You saw what happened! We're going to die here. Oh my God. They're going to kill us! They're going to experiment on us and cut us open and hurt us and-"_

_"DANNY!"_

" _What?!"_

_Liz sighed and stood up, walking over to me._

" _Look at me."_

_I couldn't keep my eyes off the walls, which seemed to be closing in. She put one hand on either side of my face to keep my eyes on hers._

" _That's better. Now listen. Take a deep breath."_

_I tried, but I was to panicked to do it right. It sounded more like hyperventilating._

" _Danny!" Liz put her right hand on my chest, and kept her left on my cheek. "We'll do it together. You're panicking. Just think, 'in and out'."_

_She inhaled deeply, then exhaled. Then she did it again._

" _See? You can do it. Come one. In and out."_

_It took a while, but she got me to calm down slightly._

" _OK. That's better. Sit down."_

_"You want me to just **sit down** at a time like this?!" _

" _Yes." She grabbed my hand, and we sat together on our prison bench._

_"Liz," I practically whimpered. "What do we do?!"_

_She looked at me, and for the first time in all the time I'd known her, I saw fear written all over her face._

_"I don't know. We aren't going to get out of here, at least not without a plan."_

" _So... how do we make a plan?"_

_She frowned and looked at the ceiling. She's never admitted to it, but I swear there were tears in her eyes._

" _We um... we have to know where the exits are," She looked at me. "C'mon Mr. Action Movie, what else?"_

_I thought about it for a second. "We uh... we'll have to know where guards are?"_

_She smiled and nodded. "Right! OK, so the guard posts..."_

" _And what's outside. If we get out on a side that's closed in, then we're trapped. If we got out towards the streets, they can chase us with a car. What else is around this place?"_

_"Aren't there woods close to here?"_

_I nodded. "So we have to find an exit close to there. How do we do all that?"_

_Liz fell forwards and hugged me, gripping me like I was her life line. "I don't know!" She sounded tearful. "I don't know Danny. For once I don't know, and, and... it scares me."_

_Surprised, I hugged her back. This wasn't the first time I'd hugged her, but this time it didn't feel awkward. It felt... **right**._

_"Hey... hey it's OK." I tried to reassure her. "We'll figure out a way. Together."_

_Liz leaned back far enough to look at me, nodding. "As long as we stay together."_

_-end Flashback-_

I opened my eyes. I needed a plan.

_OK, OK, OK... plan..plan..plan.._

My mind was blank. I was just to freaking scared to think straight. In truth, I was panicking. The same way I had when I was 14. But this time, there was no Liz, no _'together'_ , no hope.

There had to be a way out, there just had to be! I tried pulling the door, but it wouldn't move a millimeter. I pounded it with my fists, I slammed into it with my shoulder. Nothing worked. I even went ghost and tried to walk out using intangibility. Yes, that's how stupid I can get when panicking. I will be in an anti-ghost facility, and go ghost.

Go on, say it. I'm an idiot.

"That won't work you know." an agent said over an intercom.

"LET ME OUT!" I shouted desperately.

"Awe, is the ghost boy afraid of the dark?" he taunted.

I couldn't breath. My heart was pounding a million miles a minute, I was practically hyperventilating.

_Deep breaths Danny._

My brain couldn't seem to control my body. My chest still pumped up and down. I was beginning to feel light headed.

_DANNY! It won't do any good for you to make yourself blackout. Breath. Like Liz taught you._

I took a deep breath and held it for a while before letting it out.

_That's right Daniel. Slowly. One breath at a time. Let yourself calm down_.

A minute later, I was able to breath normally. I was not the main concern here, Liz was.

_Pressure Danny. Like you thought earlier._

Don't give me that look. Yeah, reader. I know you're looking at me like I'm crazy- talking to myself like that. I was the only company I had besides an unconscious girl. Sue me.

I pulled Liz close to me, and pressed my palm onto the sight.

Yes, it was gross.

I couldn't look at it to closely, and I couldn't think to much about what I was doing, or else I was sure I would vomit.

So I looked at her face. I imagined her eyes when they were open, looking at the world in that way she does- ready for anything, scared of nothing. Not a thing like me.

My mind drifted to favorite memories with her, before the Guys in white, time while running away, even small things that had happened in the past month.

The time we'd been fighting Undergrowth and got our element powers. I thought she'd been possessed with Tucker and Sam, so I ran away to the ghost zone. But my newly found ice powers froze me. Luckily, Frostbite found me. When I'd woken up, I was in my underwear in an anti-freezing chamber or something.

At first, I thought myself to be alone-ish. But no. Liz was there. Her new flame powers had disintegrated Undergrowth's vines, and she'd come to find me. But she's gotten too cold, and Frostbite had decided to defrost her too.

Frostbite has to have everything in order, clothes included. So when we saw that both our uniforms had burs, we'd washed them. So yes, she was just as exposed as I was. I still remember what she'd had on; purple sports bra, neon pink boy shorts.

That doesn't make me a stalker, right?

**(A/N: yeah Danny, it kinda does. But Liz didn't forget that day either ;))**

My eyes were beginning to feel heavy (How could I even _think_ about sleeping?!) when the door slide open.

"Well? We haven't got all day ghost boy. Stand up!"

My jaw fell open. The person talking was a.. a _woman_!

"who-"

"Agent M of the Gals In White program. You'll meet E, G and Z possibly. But all at a later time. For you, you have an experiment to go to."

As she stalked into the room, her white skirt fluttered a little. "Come on! Don't make me late. These heels were made for kicking, and so were these legs. Don't make me use them."

"M," another voice scolded. Another woman walked in.

Unlike M (Who was a redhead), this woman was blond. M looked mean, and truly ready to kick my butt, but this new girl looked a lot nicer.

"He's scared."

"Don't be so soft hearted E." M complained. "You know what he's done."

"Yes, I do. But just look at him. If that's not his scared face, I don't know what is!" She knelt down next to me, and I felt my heart race. My muscles tensed, ready for her to hit me, or kick me, or somehow try to hurt me.

"Calm down." E slowly pulled the handcuffs from behind her back. "May I see you hands please?"

I could feel how wide my eyes were, but I still held my arms out and let her lock the cuffs.

"OK, now we're just going-"

"Who cares?" M interrupted.

She bent down and grabbed my hair, and pulled me up.

"Ow!" I protested.

"M," E said warningly. "He's going to get plenty hurt in the experiments. Don't make it worse."

M released me but pushed me forward. "Move it, kid."

The two locked the door behind me (what did they think Liz was going to do? Escape?) and walked me down to many hallways to count.

"How is this place so big?" I thought out loud. "I mean, you guys specialize with ghosts, how can you have a use for so much space?"

"Most of it is office space," E explained. "And rooms made for you and the girl."

"Made for us?"

M snickered. "Yeah, made for you. You two changed a lot of things around here. Scientists have been bringing us all sorts of new tech to try out on you. Ya know, does this hurt? can you break this? Can this kinda stuff affect specter activity? The boys have been _dying_ to have you play with the new toys."

I gulped. "S-so where are you taking me right now?"

"Blood work... and there are some questions they want answered. And of course two years of punishment to cram into a day or two." She smiled wickedly.

"M, cut it out!" E snapped.

" _Why_ do you keep sticking up for him?" M scowled.

"I know that he's been accused of bad things. I believe in most of them myself-" E began. "But that's not why he's here. If that was why, he'd be in jail instead. I just think it's cruel to do all this to a 16 year old kid! Not saying he doesn't deserve it, but he doesn't even get an explanation. Doesn't know why he's doing anything."

"I'm doing it because I don't have a choice." I muttered.

M shoved me and I fell on my butt.

"That's right. Now get up before we're late. Lateness will not be tolerated."

"Nothing will." I grumbled as I stood.

After another minute of walking, we stopped in front of a huge door.

"May I formally welcome you back to the Guys In White Headquarters!" A voice said cheerfully. A voice that I knew all to well.

Her voice had haunted my dreams.

My nightmares.

My visions.

My memories.

"Forever." a second voice concluded. The door opened to reveal the speakers.

Tucker and Sam.

"Danny!" Sam smiled and walked towards me, arms outstretched like she was going to hug me.

"It's been a while." She got closer. "Two years to be precise."

I shuddered, remembering Dark Dan (My future self) saying that exact same thing.

I tried to back away, but the door had closed. No way out.

Sam had changed since we were 14. Her bangs were cut the same, but her hair reached down to her waist. She had on a pure black tee-shirt, with a black and purple striped long sleeve shirt underneath. Her jeans were black, and so were her sneakers. A purple choker that matched both her lipstick and her eyes was around her neck. Purple plastic spiders dangled from her ears.

Tucker had changed too. He no longer had his hat or glasses. He'd gotten taller and more muscular. Puberty. It had changed me, and him. God, HIGHSCHOOL WAS RIGHT!

He wore a yellow tee-shirt and green kakai shorts. Same color scheme as his 14 year old self.

He's replaced his glasses with contacts. His hair was still cut short.

Truthfully, he looked like some cool collage guy, not the geeky guy I was best friends with.

Sam walked over, arms out stretched. She wasn't going to hug me...

Or maybe not...

"So... _good_ to see you again Danny!" Her voice sounded like venom.

"Uh..."

"Tounge tied to see your old girlfriend?" Tucker snickered.

"She was _never_ my girlfriend." I hissed.

Sam looked offended. Faker.

"Danny, don't you remember the 'fake out make outs'? The late nights studying-"

I was suddenly very happy Liz wasn't here.

"The-" She tried to continue, but I cut her off.

"The betrayal, the pain, the nights that seemed to last years?" I almost laughed. "Yeah. How could I _ever_ forget that?"

"Watch your mouth, or you just might find some poison being slipped into your food." Tucker snarled.

"Like you're going to feed me."

Sam unlocked my hand cuffs, and inspected my wrists. Like she cared.

"Looks like you already did something wrong." She teased.

A thin circle of red was around m wrist, like a bracelet. So I _had_ been pricked by the cuffs! Well in that case; _ow_.

"Weren't there supposed to be _two_ ghosts?" Tucker asked. It sounded innocent enough, but I knew he knew what had happened.

"Oh she's just a little busy, _dying_ because of you!" I snapped.

"What a shame." Sam monotoned.

She grabbed my shoulder with a grip that seemed _way_ to strong to be hers. She shoved my onto a vertical table and fastened me in. The restraints were around both writs ankles, and my waist.

"Just so you know, you won't be escaping again." Sam smiled at me.

"And as for Liz.." Tucker said without looking up from the computer screen he was staring at. "Well, I know what was on the bullet.

I pulled on the restraints. I had to get out. I had to get away. Find help, hide forever, do _something!_

"Awe. I the big bad Danny Phantom scared?" Sam talked to me like I was 5 years old.

I felt the sighs of panic start.

_Danny, cut it out! Don't let them know, DON'T!_

"W-what are you going to do?" I'd meant it to sound brave, but it sounded as terrified as I truly was.

Tucker walked over and jabbed a needle into my arm. "We need some blood."

When he pulled it out, the vial was filled with a red/green liquid.

Ew.

Tuck turned to a lab assistant. "Go have this analyzed."

He turned towards a control panel by where I was being held.

"So how's life been treating you?" He questioned casually.

"You mean besides having my best friend getting shot, getting kidnapped, trying to forget what you did to me here the _first_ time, and running away long enough to not eat for two days and not care? Super."

"Best friend? You mean, you and Liz aren't a thing?"

"Not yet."

"Meaning she's still single?" He sounded hopeful.

"Are you seriously-! _Why_ would she like the guy who sent her _here_? Honestly, even though you've watched her be _tortured_ you still have a thing for her? You are more messed up than I thought."

"He's not into Liz!" Sam snapped. She stalked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "He has a girl."

Oh. _Oh_. Oh that's sick. Two mentally challenged people together? Meh, I guess they do fit together. But still, _Tucker and Sam!?_

"So because Sam couldn't have me, and Tucker couldn't have Liz, you two got together?"

They nodded.

"Not that you even would have liked me back." Sam shrugged. "Right?"

Heat rushed to my cheeks.

"Oh." She narrowed her eyes at me. "So you _did_ like me back?"

I didn't answer. Yes I _had_ a crush on Sam when we were fourteen, but at the same time I hadn't known what to do about Liz! She could understand me more than anyone else in the whole world could.

Sam laughed. "This is rich! You liked me, didn't you! All this time I thought you would go after the stupid little ghost girl-"

" _Stupid!?"_ I snapped. "She's a better best friend then you _ever_ were!"

"Oh please. You've known her for two years. You've known me since 3rd grade. How could she know you better?"

"Life changed for me! She could relate."

"So if I were a ghost, you would be dating me?"

I laughed. This was just insane.

"I never thought you to be the jealous type Sam."

Her face turned red. A very... commercial red... it barely looked real.

"JEALOUS!?" She sputtered.

I laughed again. Mt emotions had be so strung out, this was just hilarious.

"Holy- all this. Turning us in, everything was because you thought I would go off with Liz, flying onto the sunset? Do you realize what a bad first move that is? I just-" laughed bubbled from my chest.

All this crap, this life ruining experience, all because my ex-best friend was jealous? What has the world come to?

"So you're saying you would have gone with me?" She questioned. I noticed Tucker glaring at me from behind her. Looks like Sam isn't the only one who can get jealous...

"Are you crazy? I love Liz!"

I hadn't meant to say it. I just... did. But I knew it was the truth.

I love Liz.

I have since we were fourteen. It just took me a while to realize it.

Sam's gaze hardened.

"Start the machine at level 8 Tucker."

She shot me a glance of pure loathing.

"Make him feel as much pain as possible."


	16. Welcome to amity park- Raven

"DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING!?" I shouted at Cyborg.

Don't judge me. You try riding in a car with three boys and one other girl for two days, and say you aren't on edge.

Yes. Two days. That's how long it took us to figure out where the GIW HQ was, pack, formulate a plan, and go. Danny and Liz could be dead already.

"Chill Rae! We're going to Amity park."

I glared at the back of his seat. "No, really?" I asked sarcastically. "It's not like I'm the one who figured that out or anything." (-_-)

"Will you two stop fighting?" Robin asked. He turned in his position as shotgun, and looked at us. "Fighting won't get us to them faster."

"Nope. Leaving earlier would have though."

"Friends, please." Star began. "No more mean talking."

Our gaze locked, total chick glare off.

"I _told_ you all that we needed to save them. First thing. Did he listen?"

"No, but he was mislead."

"He's the leader. He's supposed to want to save everyone!"

"We all should."

"Then why are we in a car, racing to friends who may already be dead?"

Well, I WIN!

"Raven, admit it." Beast boy looked at me. "At first, you felt a little betrayed. Like it was Terra all over again. Didn't you?"

Yes, I had thought that a little bit. But Terra had been a spy. She'd lied to get to our secrets. Liz and Danny? They'd lied to protect themselves. Possibly save their lives. They'd had good reason.

"Don't tell you didn't think about _why_ they lied."

"They... well they just wanted safety." Cyborg didn't sound confident.

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes, my team mates can be _so_ slow.

"Think about it. They were running away for two years. It's the beginning of winter. The Guys In White have been chasing them, probably all over the country. They _tried_ to run away from us that first day during the snowball fight. We're the ones who 'adopted' them. And we're heroes. They know we probably would have done what we thought was the right thing. Now do you feel so dumb?"

"But the right thing would have been to listen to them!" Robin protested. "They used to be heroes too. Shouldn't they know that?"

"If they told you they had a criminal record," Cyborg kept one eye on the road, and one on Robin. "Would you have wanted to help them? Can you honestly say that you would have listened to them explain how they were framed? Or would you still have reported them, like you already had?"

Nothing like getting two hybrid friends on the brink of death kidnapped to make you rethink your whole life.

Robin stared out the window, not answering. "Just get us there as fast as you can."

I looked at the window. We were driving into a storm. Awesome. I love rain! I yawned, as the entire car was soon doing. Trying to have five teenagers sleep in one car was a mistake. Especially because three of those teens were boys.

Soon, I drifted off.

"STOP THE CAR!" Beast boy yelled.

I nearly jumped out of my skin, he'd woken me up.

Cyborg slammed on the brakes. While I'd been sleeping, the rain had gotten harder. The tires skid on the wet pavement, and we spun a 360, leaving tire tracks behind us.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Cy yelled at BB. "YOU NEARLY MADE ME CRASH MY BABY!"

"Look!" BB pointed at the building we'd swerved in front of. A huge sign read: Fenton Works.

"So what?" Cy asked, still ticked about his car.

"Isn't that where Danny grew up?" Robin asked.

"THANK YOU! At least _someone_ get's it!" Beast Boy smiled.

I looked at the building.

"Should we go in?" I questioned.

"Perhaps the residents can tell us more about friend Danny." Star suggested.

"Let's go!" Robin jumped out of the car and into the pouring rain. We followed him.

Even though it only took 10 seconds, by the time we were at the door, we were soaked.

"So... do we just ring the bell?" I asked.

Robin pressed the little button, which looked like a ghost.

A brow haired woman in a blue tank top and jeans opened the door. I recognized her as Maddie Fenton.

"Can I help you?" She asked, looking confused.

"I hope so." Robin flashed his smile. That smile had won over reporters, Starfire, even some female criminals. If that didn't get us the info we wanted, I don't know what would.

"We were wondering if you could tell us about your son."

Maddie frowned. "I don't have a son."

"We've met him." I protested. "Danny Fenton."

A look passed over her face. I wasn't sure if it was hurt, guilt, anger, sadness, or joy. She was hard to read.

"Come again?"

"Your son, Danny." Beast Boy explained. "And his friend, Liz. We've met them, they've been staying with us for the past few weeks actually."

Maddie laughed, but it was obviously forced. "Oh kids. Please, do come in for a moment."

She opened the door, and we stepped in side. "Jack, Jazz!" She called. "Come here!"

A tall, fat man with black hair walked in. Jack. He hadn't changed from his picture; same outfit and everything. But his hair had more grey. When Jazz walked in, I could barely tell it was her.

Her once waist length orange hair was now cut to her shoulders. She was wearing a black dress with a belt and heels that matched her eyes. Her headband was the same color.

She looked at us, and her eyes widened. "Aren't you the teen-"

She stopped when she noticed her parents staring at her. "The teens... who knew Danny?"

_Why doesn't she tell them who we are?_

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked, no warmth in his voice.

"They say Danny has been staying with them."

Jazz shot us a look is disbelief, then happiness. But she covered it up with a serious face.

"That's impossible." Jack spat.

"Why's that?" I asked.

He narrowed his eyes at us. "Because Danny is dead."


	17. What is there to fight for? -Danny

"STOP!" I screamed.

I knew no one cared. It didn't matter to these people that I had never been in so much pain in my _life_. It didn't matter to them that my body was trying to absorb so much electric shock, it could kill me. They didn't care that I couldn't cry because I was to busy trying not to die.

No, it wasn't even crossing their mind. The fact that this electricity was laced with ectoranium didn't concern them at all. The fact that I was pulling on my restraints so hard, I ripped skin wasn't an issue. Neither was the undeniable fact that Liz was alone in a cell, life slowly slipping further and further away from her. And she was slipping further and further away from me.

It was that fact that hurt me more than any experiment the Guys In White could ever conduct on me. If I lost Liz, I would lose any and all meaning for life. If her eyes never opened, if her heart stopped beating; she would be taking a bigger part of me with her to where ever half ghost's end up.

"Asher," Tucker said turning to a lab assistant. "Turn it up to 8. See what his reaction is, and then we should be good."

"Yes sir." The whimpy little man said curtly.

The table I was strapped to began to vibrate harder. I watched as what were barely noticable streaks of green lightning became constant arches of agony.

And I scram. The sound echoed off the walls, filled every fiber of my being. There was nothing but pain. Any other feeling was a lie to distract from this. This was the only thing there ever was and ever will be. This constant pain.

The pain of betrayal.

The pain of Liz dying.

The physical pain.

The pain of lies being all I've ever known.

The pain of lieing to people.

The pain that I feel every time I see Liz, to skinny for a 16 year old girl.

The pain I felt every morning when I woke up before her, seeing the life I helped drag her into.

The pain I feel when I think about my parents.

The pain I feel ever single time I look at myself in the mirror, and wonder what I ever did that was so bad, I was doomed to this life or torture. The never ending torture.

_Wouldn't it be easier for it to end?_ Part of me asked.

_Sometimes._ The other agreed. _But what about the parts that aren't torture?_

_What parts are those?_

And being strapped there, I didn't have an answer.

Normally, I always say a reason to live.

To be with Liz, to kick Beast Boys butt at video games, annoy Robin, change the worlds mislead digust about Danny Phantom and The Star of Amity Park, show my parents I'm still their son... and maybe... maybe grow up. Have a real life, have a family, _live_.

But that day in that table, not on single option seemed realistic.

Liz was dying. The Titans turned us over. The world would never, _ever_ change their minds without a miracle. My parents meant nothing to me now. And growing up? Not a chance. The way my life worked, if I didn't die in the next couple of days, Liz would. And when that happened, I would go with her. Because If she didn't hear me say 'I love you' in this life, she would in another.

"PLEASE!" I shouted. I had to stop this, I couldn't take anymore. I _couldn't take any more_. But Sam and Tucker knew that. And I knew that they would _make_ me handle it, force me to stay there, trapped in a world of my own agony. They would watch me snap, piece by piece, until there was nothing left. Until I was gone.

The would break me.

"Sam?" Tucker asked, and the slightest hint of sympathy was in his voice.

I heard that voice be completely concerned, worried that Liz or I was to hurt to get up and fight.

_You're a fighter Danny._ I recalled him saying to me once.

I forget what had been going on; Liz and I might have wanted to stop fighting and being heroes... That had happened a few times...

_You always have been. You can take more kits than anyone else can. You fall, but you stand back up. When someone says you can't, you literally turn around and say 'you just watch'. You always have. You can't stop now, or ever._

I wondered how much of that was true. Maybe he'd been watching, observing and recording every fight result. Documenting the training Liz and I did. Reporting back to these twisted minded freaks about our every weakness.

Did anyone ever truly care?

"What?" Sam snapped back. "Are you feeling _sorry_ for this piece of ectoplasmic trash?"

"I'm not... _Trash_." I chocked out.

Sam turned to me.

" _What_ did you just say?" She hissed.

I looked her right in the eyes. I might have been about to black out form pain, but I wasn't going to be her verbal punching bag.

"I said that I am not trash. If anyone is, _you_ are."

"How _dare_ you say-"

"How dare _you_?" I interrupted. "Look at you. You were my best friends all my life. You were there when I had a problem, when I was hurt. I did the same for you."

"You also put us in danger." Sam replied casually.

"You said you were proud of what Liz and I did." I shot back.

" _Proud?_ " she spat.

"What was there to be proud of?" Tucker asked, turning the machine down to a two.

Relife immediately spread through my body. There was still slight pain, but I could blink the black spots out of my eyes now.

"You cost a city billions of dollars in repair, you put innocent citizens in danger, you put _us_ in danger, you let your grades slip, you lied to us, your parents, teachers, an entire _world_ that respected you. Who would be prod of that?"

My heart sank. I had never thought about those things. Ever. It had always been fight, sleep, eat, train, repeat. School had never been important, and neither was preserving the battle ground. I wanted to keep as many people safe as possible.

"I... I never wanted to put you guys in danger. I just wanted-"

"Wanted what?" Sam snickered sarcastically. "To be a hero? To show off for Paulina?"

"To do more!" I blurted. "To be more than the kid with the genius sister and weird parents. I wanted to be more than Danny Fenton, kid who will do nothing with his life. I wanted adventure. We always played games like that, remember?"

When we were in elementary school, before Sam was goth and Tuck was tech obsessed, we used to play action games on the play ground.

Sam would be the beautiful warrior princess, Tucker would be the evil criminal mastermind, and I would be the night in shining armor.

"We weren't the ones who through those memories away." Sam snarled. "You ditched us for a ghost girl. You went off and had new adventures- ones we could never participate in. You left us."

The metal bands keeping me locked to the table suddenly released and I face planted on the ground. Everything hurt.

"Take him back to his cell!" Tucker barked into a speaker- an intercom I assumed.

K and J walked in and each grabbed one of my arms. "Move it or lose it kid." J hissed in my ear.

It was agonizing just to walk. Every step took a huge effort, and the sad thing was, if K and J hadn't been holding on I wouldn't have been able to walk.

We turned a corner and I saw a window looking into a small room. Another agent was taking notes on someone on the examination table.

Someone wearing purple.

Someone with brown hair.

Someone who had been in our cell.

Someone who was hooked up to lots of machines recording her vitals.

Someone who, as I watched, had her heart motions slow, and then go flat.

_Oh no. No, no, **NO**!_

Someone who had been through more with me than anyone.

Someone who I needed.

Someone who saved my life.

Someone who had lost so much blood, her skin was almost completely white.

Someone who had stopped breathing.

_This can't be happening. She can't be-..._

Someone who truly understood me.

Someone who had fought by my side for years.

Someone who had a little green teen stalking her everywhere.

Someone who had the most beautiful singing voice ever.

Someone who had been shot.

_She can't. She won't. She WILL pull through. She has to..._

Someone who had been adopted.

Someone who could get me lost in her eyes.

Someone who could get lost in my eyes.

Someone who I loved.

_Liz... please._

Someone whose heart line was staying flat.

Nothing could stop the tears in my eyes, or the sinking of my stomach, or the clenching of my chest. Liz was gone. And this time, she wasn't coming back.


	18. Who's up for saving some ghosts?- Raven

"What do you mean he's _dead_?" Robin asked, narrowing his eyes.

Jack shrugged, like he could care less. "Why does it even matter. He's been 6 feet under for two years- almost three."

I looked over and saw Jazz glaring at her parents like she wanted to kill them.

"Yeah." She monotoned. " _That's_ what happened."

"Jasmine Fenton!" Maddie snapped. "Enough of this!"

She turned to us. "She and Danny were very close. She refuses to believe he's really gone."

Jazz rolled her eyes. "No. I believe he's gone." Her voice cracked. "But what I don't believe is the crap you sold off to the papers and new station about how he died."

"How exactly did he and Liz die?" BB asked.

"You know about Liz too?" Jack asked.

Jazz crossed her arms. "How'd you know she went by 'Liz'?"

"Went?" Starfire was lost.

"You don't know how they died?" Maddie sounded surprised.

We shook our heads.

"It was two years ago," She began. "Danny, Elizabeth, Sam, and Tucker went to the arcade. Unfortunately, there were some people there who don't like our mayor. They decided that the best way to hurt him was to hurt Liz. But Liz wasn't even Liz. And Danny wasn't Danny. Some ghosts had killed them a long time ago, and had been living in the mortal world in the bodies of our children. Danny and Liz were already gone. When the four came back, Sam and Tucker had already texted us and explained the situation. We had the Guys In White waiting. They were carted away, and we've been assured they are dead."

"So... your son died... how was the funeral?" I asked. I don't know why I bothered- it was obvious the couple was lying. No parent could say their kid was killed with out crying.

"They didn't through one." Jazz answered.

"Why not!?" Robin was catching onto the lie.

"It wasn't like we had his body or anything." Maddie sounded board. "He didn't get to say goodbye in the first place anyway. Better to let it fade then making it a big deal."

Well that was a load of bull. What kind of parents had their son 'die', and then talk about it like he was their most disliked character on some soap opera?

"I'm going to show them something in my room." Jazz suddenly announced. "Mom, why don't you make some snakes or drinks or something else. Dad, help her."

Before anyone could argue, she was pushing us all up the stairs.

"Hey!" BB protested.

"If you want answers, shut up and walk." Jazz hissed. She was much snappier than I'd imagined.

In the hall we passed a door clearly decorated by a teenage boy and his friends.

_Why would they leave Danny's room alone if they thought he died? Wouldn't they want to find..._ _**something** _ _?_

Jazz's room had fusha walls. As soon as we were in, she locked the door.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?" She demanded.

"What do you-" Cyborg began.

"Don't play games with me, I know who you are!" She leaned closer. "What I want to know is why The Teen Titans are here asking about my dead brother and Liz."

"Jazz," Beast Boy began. "Your brother isn't dead. He and Liz are alive... or were. They might not be for much longer."

Jazz snorted. "Yeah, _right_. Do I look like an idiot? I wasn't born yesterday. You guys live in _California_ on the opposite side of the country. On top of that, those two were taken o the Guys In White. You know, _professional_ ghost killers. You expect me to believe you?"

"I can prove it!" Beast Boy offered.

"You can?" I questioned.

He nodded and pulled a memory card out of his sleeve. "I uh... Well I was planning on teasing Danny with this." He admitted sheepishly.

"Is that from that fist morning?" I asked.

"Dude, _how_ did you get that!?" Cyborg smiled slightly.

"Well, the guy whipped my butt a video games. I had to have _something_ to give me leverage."

"What is it?" Jazz picked it up and examined it. "A memory card? From a camera..." She walked over to her laptop and plugged the chip in. A picture of Danny and Liz sleeping on the couch together appeared on screen.

For a moment, she just stared. "How did you get this?" She finally asked, her voice shaking.

"Danny and Liz have been staying with us for almost a month." Robin explained.

Jazz looked at him. "How did they do it? How much do you know? And why would you ask my _parents_ for help?"

"We know enough." I muttered.

"They're half ghosts. I'm not sure _how_ but they are. They've been running away since they were 14. And a few days ago, the GIW found them, and recaptured them. And in the process of doing so, they shot Liz."

"They... _shot_ her!?"

"Jazz," Robin said gently. "I know this is a lot to take in. But we need you to help us. We have a lot of questions that need to be answered, and it looks like you're the only one who can help."

She nodded, tho she still seemed to be in shock. "He... he's grown up so much!" She giggled a little. "Oh my God, what is he _wearing_? And his hair! And look at Liz! They..." She paused. "They're so different."

"Jazz can you tell us-"

"Not here." She glanced around. "Meet me at the Nasty Burger in 10 minutes. Then, I can tell you everything."

We didn't even have time to agree before she herded us down the stairs and out the front door.

"10 minutes." She whispered. "Be there."

Outside, it was still pouring rain. Just standing there, we were re-soaked.

"Um- so do we go?" Cyborg asked no one.

"Well, I guess if we want answers..." Robin turned and we walked to the car.

"Does anyone know where this place is?" I asked, just then noticing that we'd forgotten to ask that one very important detail.

"Two blocks west, turn right, take a left and BOOM!" Beast boy spread his arms. "We'll be there."

He had the entire car staring at him.

"How do you know that?" Robin questioned.

BB shrugged. "Their meat is complete and utter crap, but their vegetarian menu is _legendary_!"

Exactly 10 minutes later, we were at the restaurant.

When I'd pictured the place where Danny and Liz had spent a long time of their life, I'd imagined a happier place. The Amity park we drove through was depressing. Houses were in terrible condition, the people walked around like they were scared, even the children weren't right. They didn't play, they sat and talked. And not even in a lively way either. They talked in a serious way that children shouldn' I looked, I saw posters of the Guys IN White, wanted posters of Danny and Liz, even Anti-ghost awareness bulletins.

The Nasty Burger was the definition of corny. Red leather seats, back and white checkered floor, cheesy gimmicks like that.

No one was in the building except us and the people at the counter. They didn't even pay attention to us; they just continued to gossip in the corner. I heard them giggle and knew they were talking about us.

As we sat in a booth, I noticed that every single table had a black ribbon taped to every single table.

"What's with all the black?" Robin voiced my thoughts.

The teenagers working looked at us.

"It's for Danny and Liz. Duh." A pretty girl with long black hair snapped.

"They don't look like locals Paulina." A blond (and ripped) guy chided. "They may not know."

"Danny and Liz?" Starfire leaned closer; we all did.

An Asian guy nodded, clearly upset about it all.

"Ghosts killed them exactly two years ago. Ever since then, this entire town has gone to the dogs."

The last girl, yet _another_ blond, nodded. "Mayor Masters has taken all these new precautions and is working with the guys in white to keep ghosts out of the picture for good, but of course, they don't leave. And ever since Elizabeth and Danny died, they seemed to have chased the Star of Amity Park and Danny Phantom away."

Paulina sighed. "I miss the ghost boy. And Danny wasn't bad either. He may have been a loser, but he _was_ kind of cute"

"You said you were over them!" the blond boy pouted.

"Chill Dash." The Asian cracked a smile. "You can't say you're over Liz."

Dash snarled. "Don't give me that Kuan! You STILL fantasize about The Star of Amity park coming back for you one day."

"Don't even start!" that blond girl snapped.

"Whatever Star." Paulina smirked. "You're just jealous because she stole your name and out-stared you!"

"SHE DID NOT!" Star yelled. " _I'M_ STILL THE REAL STAR OF THIS TOWN!"

"I hate to break this up," A familiar voice said as she walked in. "But I'm pretty sure these guys don't want to know about your delusional relationships."

"Hey Jazz." Dash welcomed her, his voice full of sympathy. "How you been?"

He truly didn't even need to ask. Her eyes were red and puffy, and dried tears stained her cheeks.

"I'm fine." She walked over to our table, a thick folder under one arm. The workers went back to talking amongst themselves, and we made room for Jazz at our table.

"Before I tell you anything, let me make one thing very clear." She set the folder on the table as carefully as if her life depended on it.

Or Danny's.

"If I find out that you are lying, I will personally hunt you to the ends of the earth, and _kill_ you."

I never would have pegged Jazz as the violent type.

"I swear," Robin started, lifting his right arm. "We aren't lying to you. Danny and Liz are our friends, and we want to help them as much as you do."

Jazz took a deep breath. "OK. Then let me tell you the truth."

She pulled a slip of paper out of the folder.

"What's that?" BB asked.

"A Guys and White official declaration of collection."

"What the heck does that mean?" Cyborg scowled.

" _This_ ," Jazz slide the paper towards us. "Is the reason this entire town fell apart. Two tears ago, The Guys and White showed up at our door with this. They had figured out exactly why Danny Phantom and The Star Of Amity Park had never been seen in the same room as Liz and Danny. They told my parents, and even brought _Vlad_ into it. Either they don't know he's half ghost, or he's paying them to keep their mouths shut."

"Vlad as in, Vlad Masters?" I asked.

I thought I'd heard everything. Guess not!

"Yup. Mayor of this town and Liz's dad."

"Her _dad_?! That old man?" Beast boy sounded appalled.

"By adoption, not blood." Jazz paused. "What did they tell you about how they ran away."

I waited impatently as Robin explained the false sob story of little orphans Danny and Liz.

"Sounds like a Liz alibi." Jazz smiled. "All this time... they've been alive all this time!"

For almost an hour we sat there, listening to Jazz tell us about adventure after adventure that she'd shared with Liz, Danny, Sam, and Tucker.

Suddenly, she stopped. "Hide. _Now_."

We all ducked under the table.

To teens were walking in. "Who are they?" Robin whispered.

"Tucker and Sam." Jazz spat.

"I seriously thought we'd lost her." Tucker commented.

Sam laughed. "It wouldn't have been that big of a lose after all."

"We wouldn't want to lose the leverage over Danny though." Tucker argued.

"What are they talking about!" Jazz murmured to herself.

"I had to watch him last night." Sam sounded amused. "He was crying _so_ hard. He doesn't know she's not dead. He saw it when she stopped breathing you know."

" _No!"_ Tucker sounded shocked. "Man that must've stung."

"He was sobbing all night. Didn't sleep at all. From dawn till dusk _You can't leave me_ and _It should have been me_ ' _s_. M had to bring a bucket because he made himself sick."

"What's he doing tomorrow?" Tucker questioned.

"Ecto ranium dodge ball, training, and most importantly, resistance. I'm thinking of putting Liz in the dodge ball room just to make sure he does something."

"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" Tucker ordered his food.

I could sense Sam shrug. "No. If she dies, she deserves it. And if he dies- well there'll be someone waiting for Liz, now won't there?"

I wanted to hit them.

"I have to get out of her." Jazz insisted. "There is no way I can stay here and listen to them talk that way about my brother."

Using my powers, I transported us out of the diner.

"You have to save them." Jazz demanded desperatly.

I nodded. "We will Jazz. We could use your help though."

She shook her head. "My parents know they aren't dead. They also know Danny and Liz are half ghost. I have to stay here and make sure they don't try and hunt them down." She blinked. "But when you save them, and you _will_ \- just... tell Danny I love him. And, I'm sorry."

With that, she sprinted away.

"So," Robin turned to us. "Who's up for saving some ghosts'?"


	19. She lives- Danny

The heart line was staying flat.

_5 seconds._

I wasn't moving. I couldn't. My best friend was dead.

_7 seconds._

The Guys in White were yelling at me. I wasn't listening. I could hear anything, move anything, see anything but her.

_10 seconds_

I'm running towards the window, pounding the glass. She couldn't leave me. Not here, not now. I needed her.

_Don't go Liz. Please._

But she was already gone. And breaking my fist on the glass wouldn't bring her back. Because she was gone.

She left me.

I never got to tell her that I love her.

Because I love her.

I love her.

And she's gone.

She left me.

She was forced out of my life.

Because they killed her.

Because _they_ took her from me.

Before I could tell her.

I love her.

I didn't realize I was screaming her name until J clamped a hand over my mouth.

"Shut up already." He snapped.

He took her.

He killed her.

She was mine, and she's gone.

And I can't do anything.

I let the guys in white lead me away, still in to much shock to cry.

She couldn't be gone.

She wouldn't leave.

Not before I told her.

But she was. The guys in white, the people leading me to a cell where I might _die-_ they killed her.

And I was next.

When they were done with me, I was dead.

I'd be with Liz.

There would be no more pain.

But where would we be?

Nowhere.

Why should they get control of our lives? When and what we eat, how and when we die?

K shoved me into my cell, and I couldn't speak. I couldn't move.

They were to late. They could do whatever they wanted now. They already killed me.

And that's when the tears came.

I was dead, she was gone, Sam did this out of jealousy, _she was gone_ , no one was going to save me this time. And Liz was dead. Killed. Murdered.

I don't think I'd ever cried so hard. The sleeves of my sweatshirt were soon soaked from trying to dry my tears- a hopeless action.

At some point I think I threw up. E came in and tried to sooth me- or maybe I was imagining things. One agent came and did conclude I was in shock.

It didn't matter. The tears didn't stop. The pain in my chest didn't go away. The pain from the electricity didn't fade. My broken heart didn't magically fuse back together.

And Liz wasn't going to come back to life.

"Danny?" I opened my eyes to see E staring down at me. "You have another experiment to get to."

I didn't move. I couldn't.

She wasn't next to me.

She wasn't in my arms.

She wasn't in the cell.

She truly was gone.

Liz, _my_ Liz was gone. I could've saved her if I'd been one minute earlier.

Just one minute, and Liz would be here.

_No she wouldn't. What could you have done? Stared her to life?_

E and M hauled me to my feet and walked me down the halls to my next day of torture.

And we passed the window.

The window I watched from as she stopped breathing and stayed that way. When she left.

And I can't cry. I know I want to. But I can't. I don't feel anything. My body is sore, tired, hungry, thirsty and broken. But my mind is dead. Just like the rest of me soon will be.

"Move it punk!" M shouted. She sounded miles away.

"M, he's not going to reply." E said, rolling her eyes.

"Well he better, or Sammy and Tuck are gonna be tipped off about his never shutting up! All night, tears, sobs, and some throughing up. He is _not_ on my good side."

"He's in shock." E explained. "He just saw his girlfriend... uh... ' _die'_."

_Girlfriend. She could have been. But they took that away._

"Whatever." M scanned a security pass and a door slide open. "Middle of the room, _fast_ /" She ordered.

I moved. I felt like a robot, not truly processing what I was doing, but doing it anyways. Once in the middle of the room, Sam's voice boomed, "Get ready Danny."

Ready for what? Were they going to kill me? A small part of me hoped so. No matter where a half ghost ended up, it had to be better then here.

_You want to die!?_

Half my mind screamed at me.

_We'll be free. No pain. No GIW._

_No Liz!_ The other argued.

_She's gone._

And yet, it didn't _feel_ like she was gone. I've always heard that when someone dies, your memories of them kind of go too. They just fade, like it's the victim's way of lessening the pain. It happened with me when my Great Aunt Alice passed away.

I remembered everything about Liz. The way I feel when she hugs me, the way she feels pressed against me as we sleep. The warmth her hugs bring, her smile. Everything.

If she were 100% gone, dead, wouldn't that be gone?

"You have five minutes to complete the course." Tucker told me.

_What course?_

I swear, Sam and Tucker never cease to amaze me.

The course Liz and I had trained with in my basement popped up from the floor. Not just a reproduction either. This was the legit boxes, hoops, targets, _everything_.

"You have five minutes to complete the course." Tucker informed me.

"Why should I?" It hurt to talk- my throat was raw.

"Because if you don't you _will_ regret it."

I rolled my eyes. "What else can you do?" I shouted up at the window. "Kill me? Torture me? What else is new!?"

Sam glanced at Tucker.

He said, "Seriously? Do it and you _won't_ get killed or tortured... today anyway. Fair?"

I mermered a _whatever_ under my breath as I slowly advanced towards the course. I knew what to do, Liz and I had raced through this several times.

There she was again. Liz. Still in my mind, still in my heart. Every single thing reminded me of her.

Sighing, I went ghost.

"Stop." Sam ordered.

"...I haven't done anything yet..."

"You will not be ghost in this trial."

_What?_

"How do you expect me to phase though the steel boxes then?"

"Go over them."

"They're like, twice my height!"

"Not my problem."

I crossed my arms and glared at her. "Yeah it is. You designed that part of the course!"

"And you are just going to have to figure out a way to get over them with out any ghostly abilities. GO!"

A sound like a giant timer echoed though the room.

_Five minutes._

OK, I admit it. I barley made it. Swinging on the hoops was tough (So was getting to them), I had to physically punch the targets (I smashed the ones of Sam and Tucker, even though I wasn't supposed to) but the boxes messed me up. I had to jump, kick the side and flip. Not easy when you aren't a ghost with the ability to fly.

At the end, I looked up and saw 10 agents taking notes. What the heck were they all recording? ' _Danny is going to die. Today he had to run though an obstacle course made for a ghost as a human. I like hamburgers. And fries... with a chocolate milkshake and whipped cream and-'_

And I'm _starving._ Like, I would eat brussle sprouts if I could.

"OK, do it again as a ghost." Tucker looked at me expectantly.

I shrugged and became Danny Phantom. But instead of going to the course, I floated up to the window.

"Why am I doing this?"

"Why are you questioning us?" Tuck shot back.

"Maybe because you killed my best friend, find it enjoyable to torture me, are holding me here against my will, stabbed me in the back... want me to go on?"

No answer.

"We're comparing your human strength to your ghost strength." Sam told me.

"Give me something to eat, and you might get better results."

"Dream on." Tucker sneered. "Now do as you're told."

As I touched the hoop to swing, it burned.

"Ow!"

"Don't complete it fast enough, and that's what happens." Sam grinned. "Don't waste time begging like a dog next time."

I ran the course. Then I had to do it again as a human in four minutes. Then as a ghost. Every time, I had to switch back and a minute was cut off.

Not. Fun.

"You have 30 seconds as a ghost."

I tried. I _really_ tried. I'm not sure why I did. Maybe I wanted to prove something to these people, deep down. Maybe I liked the distraction it brought from thinking about Liz. And how pale she looked on that table when she died. Maybe it made me feel wanted. Or maybe I was hoping they would get what they wanted and just kill me already.

But I couldn't do it. In the middle of holding onto the hoops, I feel and slammed face first into the floor, turning back human. I couldn't sustain being Phantom any longer. I was literally starving, probably dehydrated, sore, tired, and scared witless.

"Get _up_ " Sam ordered.

I ignored her.

"Go to the next challenge Sammy." Tucker suggested.

_Sammy? Ew._

The course disappeared, and I shut my eyes. This had to end. I couldn't do anything more for these people.

I heard a door slide open and expected to be yanked to my feet and dragged away. But I wasn't. It shut again and nothing happened. No one was beating me.

"You may want to open your eyes." O laughed.

I did.

And _she_ was across the room. A rooms whose wall panels had suddenly been replaced with row after row of canons.

She couldn't be alive... could she?

Her chest, it was moving. She was _breathing._ No. This had to be a trick. She wasn't really laying over there. She...

...She was moving. Her head thrashed to the side, a cough exploded from her, bringing blood with it.

"Are you going to shoot me if I go to her?"

No answer.

But screw it, she was _alive_.

I stumbled over to her as fast as I could. I collapsed next to her, holding her in my lap. She was breathing, she was bleeding, and then-.

"D- Danny?" She sounded so weak, so tired. But for a moment, her beautiful green eyes opened to reveal the fear and pain hidden behind them.

She placed one hand on my arm, the other on her side.

Her eyes welled with tears. She looked at me.

I couldn't breath.

"Ow." That was all she managed to choke out before her eyes closed and she went limp in my grasp.

She opened her eyes.

She looked at me.

She talked to me.

She's alive!

But she's scared. In pain. Broken.

I turned and glared at the GIW. I made a silent promise to make them pay for making Liz hurt like she was.

Something whizzed past my head. It was a glowing green-

I'm screwed.

_Ectorainium._

Pure, raw, freshly mined from where ever these freaks found it.

So that's what the canons were loaded with.

And they just came faster.

I flipped and dodged before something crossed my mind: Liz couldn't protect herself. I was going to have to do it for her.

I had to over shadow her.

It wasn't that I'd never been in her body before... We'd had our minds switched once. But the boy of a fourteen year old girl and a 16 year old girl was very different. I know, I had to watch the video in health.

_You aren't doing this to be creepy, you're doing it to save her._

Didn't make me feel much better, but I went intangible anyways.

I opened my eyes and felt a much smaller fraction of the pain Liz was in. And it _hurt!_

_Danny?_

Did I forget to mention Liz and I can talk to each other when overshadowing people?

_It's me. You're unconscious so you probably won't remember this happening, or even know what your saying by the way._

_What are you doing?_

_Saving your life._

_From what? I thought... I thought I was dead._

_So did I. We're in the GIW HQ. They're testing us... well me._

_What's this test supposed to do?_

Huh. They'd tested strength, what _was_ this supposed to prove?

_Sam and Tucker will help._ Liz muttered in my mind.

_Yup. You have NO CLUE what you're talking about._

_I'm talking to you. I was shot. You're... WHY ARE YOU IN MY BODY!?_

_Did I not just explain this?_

_Shut up and be my hero already._

Her hero? Yeah. I'm her hero.

Time was meaningless, I could've been running around dodging things for an hour, 10 minutes, or a day.

_Loyalty._ Liz suddenly pipped up.

I pressed up against the wall, catching my breath. Running with a bullet in your side hurts _really_ bad.

_What?_

_You're like Peter Johnson._

_Percy Jackson. Liz, you mean Percy._

_You have the same fatal flaw._

_...Say that again._

I was losing her. She was getting weaker ever though my life was powering her back up.

_They fell into Tartarus. We fell into hell. You be Percy and I'll be Annabeth. 'As long as we're together'._

Scratch that, Liz was gone. Her voice went silent, but she wasn't dead. She was just to weak to talk, even mentally. That was bad. I had to get her out of this place before I truly lost her for good. But she'd just made perfect sense.

I _was_ like Percy Jackson when it came to loyalty. Which is what they were testing me on. Would I leave Liz to die, or save her? Let my self get hurt for her?

I closed my eyes. So how would they try and break me here?

By breaking Liz.

And they couldn't do that without-

I realized my mistake to late. Just as my/Liz's eyes flew open, a chunk of Ectorainium came flying at me. It cut through my should and BAM! Liz was on the floor and I was sprawled next to her.

Liz had a gash on her shoulder, gushing blood. It took a moment to notice an identical on my shoulder. It was deep. Small shards of Ectorainium had stayed behind, making it feel like my arm was on fire. It was gonna scar.

I sat up, about to over shadow Liz again when out of nowhere, another rock was coming towards me.

It was bigger then the others flying through the room. Much bigger.

It hit me square in the chest and I fell back, a sickening _CRACK_ vibrating through my skull.

I'd just gotten a few ribs busted.

To say it hurt would be the understatement of the week.

It burned.

It throbbed.

It was _excruciating_.

"Tuck, turn the canons off."

My vision was going dark.

It was only when I was sure I was going to black out did I allow myself to scream.

I hope the sound haunts Sam's nightmare like it does mine.


	20. Death wish- Danny

If they're going to kill me, I wish they'd hurry up.

Every breath I took hurt. After I'd blacked out, I'm not sure what they did. I woke up in my cell with Liz.

My shoulder stung and was still bleeding. Liz's bleeding had slowed, but because of healing or just not enough blood left I'm not sure.

_We aren't going to make it out of here._

That was the truth. I'd either die from starvation, thirst, or pain. Liz was almost gone anyway.

_Don't think that way! You promised you'd get through this- keep that promise._

"L-Liz." I coughed. "I p-promise."

For one full day, they left me alone. They left Liz with me. They left my broken body and crushed soul in a cell of broken hope.

I scram when my ghost immunity began to fuse my ribs back together.

I day dreamed about being free.

I slept, my head getting filled with nightmare after nightmare.

I was starving, that I knew from both the way my stomach cramped and the constant grows that echoed through the empty cell.

"Sleep punk." M slide the door open a fraction. "It's been two days. They're making up for lost time tomorrow."

My head was resting on the ground. I had Liz curled next to me. She was pale as a sheet.

My eyes shut for what seemed like seconds, but E was suddenly standing in front of me, a doughnut in hand, telling me to wake up.

"W-where-?" I couldn't find the strength to finish the sentence.

"A lab. You won't have to run around anywhere. And Danny," E looked at me as I practically crawled to the door. "When I started working here, I thought you would be some blood thirsty lunatic, bent on murdering everyone in sight. I know you aren't. I'm sorry this had to happen to you."

J walked down the hall, and every muscle in my body tensed.

He brushed bast me, and scooped Liz up, bridal style.

"What are you doing?" I hadn't had water in who knows how long, I could hardly scratch that question out.

"You didn't think we'd leave her alone did you?"

More like desperately prayed.

We passed the normal halls on the way to doom. Every hall had some streak of my blood somewhere. Ectoplasum stains, as it turned out.

When we passed the lounge, I nearly passed out from hunger. There were doughnuts, muffins, and waffles.

Saliva pooled in my mouth.

"Keep moving kid." J grinned. "I will enjoy what I'm about to do."

Sucks for him, I was going to black out before he could kill me.

They strapped me to a table.

I fantasied about eating at the Nasty Burger.

They talked with each other.

I thought of how young an age I was going to die.

The filled a syringe with some random glowing green substance.

I wished for a glass of water.

My thoughts snapped back to the present when my arm was on fire.

Not literally, but it might as well have been.

" _What_ was that!?" A small bruise was beginning to form, like when you get a shot.

"High concentrated ectorainum." O said matter a factly.

I rolled my eyes. "Where the heck do you mine this stuff? And why do you make _everything_ out of it? What's next? The toothbrush? Oh! I know! Ectorainum: the movie. Do I get to live long enough to buy tickets?"

The silenced my attempt at banter by stabbing me with another needle.

They wanted to hear me scream. They wanted to know they were hurting me. I could see it in their eyes.

I wouldn't let them. Why should they get what they want?

I held out, catching my breath with every sharp poke of the needle, every renewed feeling of fire and poisen spreading through my every vain.

"That's five..." O glanced at Sam, the only devil child present at this torture.

She smirked. "Then give the girl five."

No... they couldn't do that to Liz! She would die.

Sam saw the worry in my eyes. "Scratch that. Five. All at once."

O headed over to Liz. "Not her moron!" Sam walked over to me, her cold hand sliding up my chest to my cheek. "Him."

"Just so you know," She leaned down so close, her lips tickled my ear. "This might kill you. And if it doesn't, tomorrows will. And if not then, soon."

I gulped.

"And as soon as you're gone, she will be next. And then, the entire ghost zone will be gone."

Fear settled in my stomach. True, there were a lot of ghost's who were bad, but there were good ones too! Shadow Mother's garden was filled with innocent children ghosts. And besides, the ghost zone is the flip side of ours! If it went-

"I'm not dense, Danny." She spat my name. "Not the _zone_. Just the ghosts in it."

O had the need poised above my arm like a snake about to sink it's deadly fangs into a victim.

And when it struck, the world went black and all that could be heard was Sam's evil laughter.

"Danny?" I blinked.

The world was spinning, and twenty E's were leaning over me. My head hurt, my body stung from the inside out, and I felt sick.

"I just got the news."

"What news?" I choacked out.

"This afternoon. They don't think either you or Liz will be strong enough to do any more tests. They're-"

"Going to kill me. Aren't they?"

She nodded sadly. "There was debate of letting you recover to your Danny Phantom fighting state, but the recovery time is to long."

"E, how long have I been here?"

She looked at the floor. "Six days."

I nodded. It was really happening. Today.

Something cold was pressed into my palm. A water bottle.

"Figured they won't fire me for a muffin and a bottle."

E watched me, probably expecting me to wolf it all down.

Instead, I lifted Liz a little, and trickled some water into her mouth.

It might not have truly made a difference, but I think I saw a little bit of color return to her face.

Only when I was sure she was taken care of, did I gulp the rest down.

"I never thought a ghost could get hungry or thirsty..." E commented as the muffin disappeared in my mouth.

" _Half_ ghost. I can last longer with out them, but I still need them."

E left me. I sat alone with Liz, the truth of her words refusing to sink in.

They were going to kill me?

Yes. They were finally going to do it.

The door slide open to reveal a new agent.

"Agent D." He said briskly, picking Liz up. "If you'll follow me please."

It was a new room. It was on the highest floor of the building, with a window. My exicution table was in a ray of sun.

It felt good on my face, on my skin.

_One last time... Felt it on last time._

Tucker and Sam weren't there. O was, K was, and J was. And that 'D' guy, whoever that was.

O and I were standing by Liz. They would be the death of her.

My restrints bit into my skin.

"Why not have more fun, huh?" D smirked.

"Yeah, cause _this_ is fun. Demented creep."

He smacked me, but I truly didn't care.

One thing crossed my mind.

I never told Liz I loved her.

In that moment, I confirmed it. It didn't matter how painful it was, I would live. For no other reason then to tell her I loved her more than anyone or anything.

They inserted the needle in my arm.

I screamed.

I could always just let go.

Float away.

Leave the pain.

_Liz._

They stabbed me again.

_Life is precious._

I was pulling at the bands gluing me to the table. Not from pain, but to get away. My adreniline was flowing, I had to get out.

Another shot of ectorainum.

I was leaving. I couldn't get away. I couldn't live. I couldn't make it though this.

I couldn't tell her.

And suddenly, the unpredictable happened.

And it started with a crash.


	21. Ghost emergancy- Raven

"How do you plan on saving them?" I scowled. "If these freaks had any respect for us, they wouldn't have attacked us."

"We could knock on the front door!" Beast boy laughed at his joke.

"Good idea." Robin walked purposfully through the rain towards the GIW building.

He knocked on the door. He literally went up to their big door and rapped his knuckles on the wood.

When two men in pure white suites opened the door, I had to resist the urge to punch them in the face.

"Wasn't Halloween a few months ago?" One questioned, eyeing out outfits critically.

"Sir, we're the teen titans and I believe you-"

" _Teen Titans?"_ the other snorted. "Never heard of you."

Yeah, _right._ Like they didn't know how to knock us out, and kidnap our friends.

After being turned away, we tried again the next day. And then we tried breaking in the day after that.

With every wasted attempt, Danny and Liz were closer to death.

The fifth day, a huge blizzard was storming outside. The sun was able to shine through the clouds, but all it did was make the world grey.

An underground heating pipe had cracked due to the cold. The perfect way to sneak in.

"This place is huge!" Beast boy panted after we crawled though the walls for a few hours. "How are we going to find them!?"

Our answer came in the answer of a scream. _Danny's_ scream.

"This way!" Starfire declared, levitating to avoid touching the inside of the huge pipe.

We crawled as fast as we could to the top of the building, the screams getting louder by the second. At last, we came to a heating vent, and were able to look at what we were up against.

I saw Liz first. At first, I thought she was dead. Her arms were hanging limply off the table she was placed on. She was still wearing Starfire's outfit, and her entire stomach was covered in both dry and fresh blood. Her shoulder was slashed, she was pale as a sheet, and was bruised.

But she was nothing compared to Danny.

Like Liz, his right shoulder was cut open. Unlike Liz, we was very much awake and the screams coming from him belonged in a horror film. His wrists were rubbed raw and a small trickle of blood ran from each one. His chest moved awkwardly as he breath, like his ribs cracked and then knit together in the wrong way. He was covered in to many bruises to count and enough blood to bring a person back from the dead.

We watched, to stunned with his appearance, as some goth chick walked in for the briefest second.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" She asked the guy killing Danny.

The guy tormenting Danny nodded. The goth chick turned. "Well, get it over with!" she snarled. "I want him and her _gone._ And D-" She smiled over her shoulder sweetly. "Make sure his blood is off that table."

I glanced at me team, and we had the same plan at the same moment.

He busted through the heating vent and crashed into the room.

The Guys in White jumped. D dropped a needle that was filled with some strange glowing green liquid, and Danny just stared.

It took no time for Cyborg to lock the door, us to K.O the agents, and the release the bonds keeping Danny on the table. He rolled over and fell to the ground in a dazed heap.

"Are you OK?" Beast boy ran over to him as Robin and Star darted over to Liz.

Danny looked up, his blue eyes shattered and filled with fury.

"Do I _look_ OK?"

I took a small step towards him. "We can explain-"

"Explain what?" Danny laughed, an insane laugh that made me question his mental health. "That you just _accidently_ put me here? That you're sorry I just relived my worst nightmare?" He winced at a sudden twinge of pain.

He coughed into his hand, and his palm came away red.

"You're hurt." Robin tried to reason. He had Liz in his arms.

The kid is a total moron.

"Put. Her. _Down._ " Danny glared up at us.

"We can help you both-" Danny went ghost before Star finished her sentence.

He gasped when he changed, like it hurt. When he looked at us with those tear rimmed, neon green eyes, and the look of pure betrayal, teams hearts melted.

Even mine.

"I don't need _anything_ from you."

Before we could react, he stood up, kicked Robin in the chest and grabbed Liz, and flew through the window.

I don't mean going intangable. He broke the glass.

Genius.

"Get to the car!" Cy yelled, and we darted out the door.

Alarms were wailing, and I could hear people running behind us. We rounded a corner, and a woman in a pure white dress stared at us. We stared back. She had a gun holster on her black belt, with a gun in it. We watched her with wide eyes, and she matched our look. No one moved.

"Where are the ghosts'?" She asked. Her voice didn't drip with venom like I though it might. She sounded more concerned then mad.

"They uh-" I didn't know what to respond with.

"Tell me, or I _will_ shoot you." He pulled her gun out and aimed it at us.

"Why should we tell you anything?" Cyborg snapped.

"I'm not a bad guy here." She didn't lower her pistol.

"Then why are we at gunpoint?" BB asked, folding his arms.

The agents chasing us were getting closer.

I studied the woman. Her dress covered mostof her collar bone, but I could see something black sticking out of the edge.

A tattoo.

And it was a symbol I recognized from researching Danny and Liz. Danny's chest had bared the same symbol as a fourteen year old ghost.

"They ran away. We're going after them." I told her.

" _Raven._ " Robin hissed.

Her gun dipped.

"You're helping him?"

I nodded.

She thought for a second, still ready to kill us. "Go." She said at last, sliding her gun into its holster. "Make sure he's OK, and make sure they don't get caught again." She shoved past us.

"E." I heard a man ask her. "Have you seen some costumed freaks running around? They saved Daniel and Elizabeth before the execution could be finished."

My blood ran cold. They had been trying to _kill_ Danny and Liz.

I waited for E to tell him we were around the corner.

"Nope." She said cheerfully. "In fact, I've never seen anyone like that in my entire life."

We all hopped into the T car.

"Where'd he go?" Cyborg scanned the sky. "I can't see him with all this snow!"

"He won't make it far with this snow." Robin scowled.

BB looked at me with eyes that said _try to sense him_.

I closed my eyes and forced every sound and thought out of my head. I just pictured Danny.

_Keep flying. Get away from them. Ow. Stay awake Danny! Don't you_ _**dare** _ _die now. Almost there, just hold on. Liz, hold on._

"Colorado." I demanded, my eyes flying open. "And drive fast Cy, he won't last long."

"Raven, I can't see him!" Robin snapped for the billionth time.

"Wait!" Starfire pointed frantically out the window was a small black dot was circled in light, then fell out of the sky.

Crap.

"Let's go!"

Screwing the idea of driving over, we all just ran to where he'd crashed.

Well, sorta. I flew Cyborg on a black disk and flew myself, Beast Boy turned into a panther and ran next to us, and Star grabbed Robin's writs' and flew him around.

"He choose a nice place to land." Cy said sarcastically, looking at the broken roof of a fishing shack next to a frozen lake.

I peered into the window. Liz was in a heap on the floor, looking dead already. Danny was on his hands and knees next to her, sobbing and coughing.

"We have to be careful." I advised everyone. "He's scared."

Robin shrugged. "As long as we get him, I truly don't think it matters."

We all gave him a look. It _should_ matter, _especially_ to Robin. Maybe he was just as tired as the rest of us, and wanted to get Danny and Liz out of there.

"He could wait until he either passes out or falls asleep..." BB mused.

I shook my head. "No. Liz might be dead by then, and so might he. This cold probably isn't helping in the least."

We nodded.

Robin kicked the door in.

Don't ask me why. Maybe it was a random energy pulse. Or he was just ticked at rotting wood. Either way, it was a mistake.

Danny's head snapped up as the door flew into the back wall.

"Don't worry." Robin instructed.

"Get away!" Danny demanded. He crawled back into the corner, hugging his sides.

"We're here to help you man." Cyborg tried to assure him.

"Stay away from me!" Danny stood up and went ghost, his eyes wild and scared.

"You're hurt."Robin stated.

"BECAUSE OF YOU!" Danny shouted. He bent over to cough into his hand, and again it came away red.

"Friend Danny-" Starfire took a step towards him.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" He tried to back further into the corner. "A FRIEND WOULDN'T SEND ME BECK TO THAT PLACE!"

Starfire backed away, hurt written all over her face.

"It was an accident." Cyborg insisted.

"ACCIDENT? ACCIDENT!" Danny laughed insanly and weakly. "No. An _accident_ is getting ghost powers. An accident is spilling a glass of water. An accident is thinking I could trust you." He spat the words like venom. "What you did, was fully intentional."

Now, Robin was getting mad. "We _helped_ you! Took you in when no one else would!"

"LOOK WHERE IT GOT US!" The wall was now heavily supporting Danny.

"WE'RE TRYING TO HELP YOU!" Robin shouted.

"IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU, WE WOULDN'T _NEED_ HELP!"

We all froze.

"It was a mistake." I muttered.

Danny gave me a confused look. "We didn't know who you were when we reported you." I looked at him. Something told me that I would be the only one who could possibly reason with him. "If we had any idea that Phantom and Star of Amity Park were you and Liz, we wouldn't have reported you. You aren't what the people think you are."

"Why should I trust you?" He asked, wiping his damp cheeks with the back of his hand. He winced and put a hand to his chest. He was fading fast, he wouldn't be standing much longer.

"We are your friends." Starfire replied.

"Are you?"

No one said anything.

"Look man, you're beat up pretty bad. We can help you, or get you to a place that can. And face it, if you don't come with us, Liz is gonna die. Do you want that? Would she?"

Danny looked at Liz. He sank down the wall a little.

"We don't want her to go." Cy continued. "We don't want to see you in pain either. Will you let us help?"

Danny swallowed, and sank fully to the floor. Tears still streamed down his cheeks, and now he was shivering.

And then Beast boy had to go and ruin it all. BB knelt down by Liz, and Put a hand on her face.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" In one swift and obviously painful) move, Danny sprang over to Liz. His hand ignighted with his glowing green stuff, and he shot it at BB.

He dodged, but Danny didn't stop. His aim was great, but every blast drained him more and more.

His attack was easy to avoid.

"Knock it off!" Robin snapped, ducking as a green ball flew over his head. "You're going to hurt yourself even more if you don't cut it out."

Danny stopped. He was barely able to stand, panting.

"I... I can't-" His eyes rolled back in his head, he changed into his human form, and collasped.

"We have to get them to a hospital!"

We loaded the two into the car and drove to the fastest emergancy room we could find.

BB held on to Liz while I hung on to Danny.

The hospital wasn't the easiest place to go. We had to lie about who we were giving them to save.

Eve and David would be strange names to hear when Liz and Danny woke up.

Liz had to go into surgery to remove the bullet, and Danny was on life support.

"Stay out here." the doctor ordered, directing us to the waiting room. "A nurse will give any and all news updates."

And together, my worried teammates and I sat and waited for our friends to either pull through, or die trying


	22. I owe Raven- Danny

My head felt like it might split open. My chest burned. Everything hurt- to put it plainly.

"It's been four days." Someone said sadly. "Neither of them have woken up."

"I know." Another voice agreed. "you don't think.. they stopped trying, do you?"

The voices were beginning to sound familiar.

Some one- _Raven_ , snorted. "Would you try to live after what they went through?"

"SHUT UP!" That sounded like Best boy. "They can't-"

"Can't die in peace." I mermered.

The talking stopped.

"Did he just-"

"Talk?" I still didn't open my eyes. "Yeah. Now if only I could stop breathing, I'd be much happier."

"Open you eyes." Starfire pleaded, her hand suddenly on mine.

I did. The walls were blinding white. At the sight of them, my throat closed for a moment.

"Where am I?" I tried to sit up, but my ribs screamed in protest. The titans were in a semi circle around me, concerned looks on every face except Robin's, who just looked board.

"We brought you to the hospital." Cyborg said slowly. His words hammered in my head, making me dizzy.

"How do you feel?" Starfire put a hand on my cheek, but I cringed away from her.

"Where's Liz?"

No one answered me.

"I will ask you one more time. Where. Is. Liz?"

"Danny." Raven, for once, spoke in a gentle tone, like she was truly concerned about how her words might affect me. "She's um.. she's on life support. The doctors don't know how long it will take-"

I glared at them.

They did this to us.

They brought us to a doctors office that now had records of us being there.

"Let me see her." I sat up, ignoring the cries of pain coming from every part of my body. I yanked two or three IV needles out of my hand carelessly.

"Don't try to get up!" BB demanded.

"Let's get on thing clear." I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him close. "I am here because of _you_. Liz is here because of _you_. You have no control and no say as to what I do with my life."

"Release him." Robin demanded. His hand clamped down on my shoulder. His hand was cold. My shoulder stung- he was death gripping the place that had gotten slashed by ectorainum.

"Robin, let go of him! You're hurting him!" Starfire ripped his hand off me.

I dropped BB (I'd accidentlylifted him a few inches off the ground) And put my hand on my shoulder.

It felt like someone (hello bird brain) had just re- slashed it.

"Danny?" Starfire sounded panicked.

I opened my eyes, and they all scrambled back.

"Your eyes are _glowing_." Cyborg was shocked.

I put my hand up to cover them. But I was mad.

I was scared.

And I was going to get out of there.

"Where are you going?" Raven snapped as I pushed past them all to the door.

The room was already tilting as I gripped the handle.

One of the titans must have pressed the button to alert the nurses that something was wrong because suddenly two nurses, three doctors, and two security guards came jogging down the hall.

"Is everything OK David?" A nurse asked, her hand on my arm.

"My name is Danny. Where is _Liz_?"

She smiled sweetly from where she seemed to be hanging upside down from the ceiling, but without gravity.

"Sweetie, you're still a little drugged. _Eve_ is still unable to be seen. Now let's just go back to bed,"

"Let GO of me!"

I backed down the hall.

"David-"

" _Danny_."

"Sir, get back in the room." A guard demanded.

"Get away from me!"

A doctor took a huge lunge at me and stabbed my with a needle. Suddenly, I was back at the Guys In White, slowly getting killed.

"We need back up." Someone demanded.

D was over me, laughing as I scram. He was going to do it again. This time it was going to kill me. Then end was near.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" I struggled against some strong force keeping me down.

My vision was going black at the edges.

"Sweet dreams David." D laughed evilly.

"How are you feeling David?" I opened my eyes. I tried to move, but there were straps of fabric keeping me down.

Panic settled in my stomach.

"Let me go. LET ME GO!"

The titans were pounding on the door of the room.

"Don't keep him down!" Beast boy shouted.

I kept pulling ad yanking, as the nurse called 'Back up'.

She shot me with something.

"David, calm down. No one is going to hurt you." The nurse stroked my hair.

Tears streamed down my cheeks.

She didn't care. All she wanted to do was 'help me', find out what I was capable of. She wanted to know what made me tick, why I was half ghost, why I didn't die that day in the ghost portal.

Again, my vision went dark.

_This time, let it be permanent. Please, if there is any good in the world, any body or anything that cares about me, let. Me. Die._

"Danny. Hey Danny, you OK?" I opened my eyes and found myself staring into the eyes of Raven.

I thought I saw Robin behind her, but I blinked and he was gone.

I shifted and found nothing holding me down.

"You're awake." She monotoned.

"Unfortunatly. You couldn't let me die?"

She smiled slightly.

"Hey, I know you hate us. But... Well I'm not sure if this will make you feel better or worse... but... Look." She pointed behind her.

I looked and saw...

Brown hair, purple clothes, an oxygen mask over her face-.

_Liz._

"Don't get up." Raven suggested. "I'm not sure what they did to you there, and I'm not sure I want to know. But I know you're hurt. You may not like it, but you need to sit tight with us here for a while. If not for yourself, for Liz. We let the hospital to let you guys stay here. And I convinced everyone to let Liz be within your line of sight."

She stood and stalked towards the door.

"I'll tell everyone you woke up. It will be a minimum of 45 minutes and a maximum of two hours before everyone is crowding you. Enjoy it while it lasts." With that, she walked out.

Yeah, ' _sit tight'_. Whatever. I stood up (with an insane amount of difficulty). There were a few IV's in my hand, so I had to drag the freaking things with me.

I dragged a chair next to Liz. She looked so weak and well... So dead. I took her frail hand in mine.

"Elizabeth Marie Masters. Please wake up. Yell at me for using your full name. Kick my butt for letting you get shot. Push me off a cliff for over shadowing you. Do whatever, just wake up."

I closed my eyes and put my head on her bed and closed my eyes. Before I knew it, I was asleep.


	23. Awakening- Liz

Have you ever had the feeling of waking up from something you don't really remember, in a place you don't know, on life support, and having your best friends beat up and asleep next to you?

Let me tell you first hand, it scares you pretty bad.

I blinked a little as I pulled the oxygen mask off my face. Suddenly it hit me- I had been _shot_. And in the custody of the _Guys In White_.

How the heck did I live through all of that?

One word: _Danny_.

Another word; _death_.

That was both what I felt like, and what he looked like.

For whatever reason, he didn't have a shirt on. Not that I minded (Oh lord... those _abs_ ). And ace bandage was wrapped around his ribs, a few IV needles were stuck in his hand, his face looked like it'd been bleached, and his hair was a disaster. He was covered in so many cuts and bruises, he looked like a toddlers finger painting gone wrong.

What had I missed!? I swear, you get shot and you miss out on _everything_.

I reached out with the hand that wasn't intertwined with his, and ran my fingers through his hair.

Danny woke with a start and winced in pain. At first, he looked confused. But when his eyes settled on me, his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.

"You- you're _alive_!"

Before I could laugh at him for thinking this girl could be killed by the mental Guys In White, he was crushing me in a bear hug. It hurt like crazy for the both of us, but the butterflies in my stomach and the feeling of my arms around him was almost pleasurable enough to balance it out.

Almost.

When he pulled away, he couldn't stop smiling. "I thought I lost you."

I grinned. "Lost me?" I cleared my throat to get ride of the rasp. "Why would you think that? It's been what, a day? 2?"

The stars out the window suddenly seemed very interesting to Danny. "It's um... Been a little more then two days Liz."

My blood ran cold.

"How many then?"

No answer.

" _Danny!_ "

"13." He rushed. "It's been 13 days."

13 days. I was out for _13_ days.

I looked Danny over again. Something was wrong, I could tell that much. Thinking he might actually lose me, the way his voice shook ever so slightly, and the way he looked like he might burst into tears at any moment. I hadn't seen that look since...

Oh my God.

"How many of those days were spent with the GIW?"

He looked at me and for the first time in a long time, they swam with fear.

"6." He swallowed hard. "Six of them were at the Guys In White."

I felt the urge to scream. I had been completely useless while Danny. God, _what_ had they done to him!?

"What?" He questioned as I covered my mouth with my hand to prevent from screaming. "What's wrong?"

"What did they do to you?" My voice was barely a whisper.

He looked out the window again. "For starters, I saw you die."

From there on, he explained everything. How they'd gotten him, the Girls in White, agent E, who didn't seem to bad. He told me how Sam did this because of jealousy. He revealed that he had matching scars because he'd been forced out of overshadowing me.

"I swear, I did _not_ do it to be creepy!" he insisted as I blushed.

"It's fine. I don't mind." We blushed harder. "I mean, you did it to save me!" I blurted, trying to de- awkward the situation.

At last, he ended with the plans for him to be executed.

"It's kind of a blur after that." He admitted. "I think the titans found us. Then someone was calling me David, and I was tied to a bed, and then I was here."

I didn't realize I was crying until Danny looked panicked. "What's wrong?" He demanded, wiping tears from my cheeks with care.

"Just the idea of you being there alone.. and all because of." I stopped.

"Danny, where are we?"

"Um... Titans tower." He spoke slowly and softly.

I sat bolt up right, a _huge_ mistake. My midsection flared with pain, and I couldn't move.

Danny carefully eased my back into a position where I was flat on my back.

"Might not want to move for a bit. Ghost immunity tends to take a little while to kick in these days."

Despite the fact that I'd been out of life for almost two weeks, sleep suddenly decided to claim me.

I moved over on the twin sized bed, and instructed Danny to lay next to me.

"You OK?" He asked and I lay my head on his shoulder.

"No." I yawned. "But you're here, which make it all better."

"You're sure she woke up?" Someone demanded.

I opened my eyes to see a tired looking Danny glaring at a hopeful looking group of costumed freaks.

"Why hello, _traitors."_

Everyone (except Danny) jumped and whipped around to face me.

"Yes." Danny gloated. "I am."

"We aren't traitors." Robin frowned. "In case you didn't notice, we saved your skin."

"Skin that might just be better off 6 feet under then with you."

Burn Birdy, _burn_.

"Liz, they uh... didn't try to get us killed." Danny didn't sound sure.

I smiled sarcastically. "Oh, so it was an accident! OK, let's just go jump on my pet unicorn and fly to Narnia which is the only universe in which I will actually believe that!"

In case you haven't noticed, you wouldn't like me when I'm mad.

"Can we get out of this room?" Danny and I suddenly asked.

I don't know about him, but the white washed walls seemed to be closing in around me.

" _I_ know where you can rest." BB sounded a little too excited.

"Where?" Danny tried to jerk away as Robin yanked his hand towards him and pulled the IV needles out. Raven stepped towards me and did the same.

"Follow us!" Starfire wheeled over a wheel chair.

"Ha. Funny." I stood up, but fell back down. "I'm not riding in that thing!" I insisted when I got the _it's-for-your-own-good_ looks.

"Fine." In one swift move, Danny and scooped me into his arms, bridal style.

"Better?"

I nodded mutely.

The Titans lead us down the hall and deep into the heart of the tower. We passed endless rooms and windows until Starfire said, "Do the closing of the eyes now!".

There was nothing special about the door. It was black, like very other door.

"Are they planning on killing us in that room?" I whispered to Danny as we closed our eyes.

"They even try, they will _beg_ for the GIW torture."

You wouldn't like Danny when he's mad either.

Someone guided us into the room. When we were told to open our eyes, I was breathless.

"Welcome to your room."

No kidding! This room SCREAMED Danny and Liz!

The walls were un girly neon green and purple swirls. One of the four walls was just a window, looking out to the city of Jump, with purple and green Ty-dyed curtains to block the sun. In the center of the room, an oval bed (for two, I might add) with a heart shaped headboard smiled. Purple sheets and a green bread spread, perfect. My pillow was purple, Danny's was green.

On the right side of the bed (Mine) there was a black nightstand with a sleek black Ipod docking station with a white Ipod plugged in. The same was on Danny's side.

Two black desks were in the corners, and a black leather couch was in front of a huge flat screen TV.

One two walls, two doors were spread out.

"Go check it out!" Cyborg urged.

Danny went to his doors, and I walked (Slowly) to mine. One was full out 5 star bath room. I mean like, two king sized beds could have fit perfectly. There was a shower to DIE for, a hot tub and a bath tub, a toilet that was to freaking high tech to fully comprehend, and the _makeup._ I personally wear lip gloss. That is IT! But this... there were lip glosses and lip sticks and blushes and eye shadows and eye liners and hair dyes of EVER color. Twenty different shampoos and conditioners were in one drawer, and toothpaste and deodorant in another. Too many brushes and combs to count here arranged neatly on the counter.

The next room was a walk in closet even BIGGER then the bathroom. Tee shirt, sweat shirts, tank tops, shorts, skirts, dresses, shoes, (yeah, they somehow guessed my bra size correctly with was creepy) basically _everything_ in every color and style was there. Including girl versions of BB and Robin's out fits, and Starfire's and Ravens.

"Beast boy, are you _kidding_ me?" I looked out the door of heaven and saw Danny holding a Teenage mutant ninja turtles Tee- shirt.

"Half this room is filled with the crap!" Danny walked me into his closet (not as filled as mine) and I couldn't help but laugh.

I couldn't see my walls past the clothes. Danny's walla were decked out in TMNT posters and cardboard cut outs. He was lying. Exactly half of his wardrobe was pure TMNT clothes. Even a pair or two of boxers with the cartoon characters on them.

"Admit it, you would have done the same thing!" I nudged Danny playfully as he tossed the shirt he was holding to the little green teen.

"It was Ravens idea!" BB squeaked.

She glared at him. "Try that again."

"It was Robin?"

Despite the fact that I was angry at these people, they'd just given me more then I could have asked for.

I gave Cyborg, Beast boy and _yes_ , Robin, a peck on the cheek. Starfire got a hug (lightly, her alien strength is insane) and Raven settled for a hand shake.

"Do I get a kiss too?" Danny grinned.

"You get to sleep with her bro." Cyborg snorted. "Isn't that good enough?"

We turned red.

"Never. Say. That. _Again._ " Danny growled.

"Let's leave them alone for a while." Raven suggested a little bitterly.

The team filled out of them room, BB leaving last. He was looking at the ceiling. For the first time, I did too. Danny smiled. The stars were painted, and the constellations were correct.

"How's you do that?" Danny asked.

"This used t be Terra's room." BB sighed. "But, she betrayed us. Enjoy!" On _that_ happy note, he walked out.

"This is a dream, isn't it?" I asked Danny.

"I hope not."

I wasn't sure. Maybe what was going on right then was real. But everything before that- getting shot, being back at the GIW... It seemed like a dream. Fake.

But the new scar on my shoulder, and the fear in Danny's eyes told me different. It _had_ happened. He _had_ been stuck by himself and I _had_ been shot.

The thought of Danny being the hero while I played damsel in distress sickened me. I should have been there, giving him hope, helping him, and using the GIW as my personal punching bags. Instead I almost, or as Danny insists _did_ die. At least for a moment.

But can a ghost die you ask? A human can die. Can a ghost? Or a _half_ ghost for that matter?

Long ago, Clockwork did his best to predict what would happen, and explain what happened when a human died, and how a ghost can die.

When mortals die, the life energy they posses needs to go somewhere. There are many religions that believe different things, so not everyone will believe what I'm about to say.

Most of the ghosts in the ghost zone were people who either had no religion, killed themselves or died unnaturally, or where not layed to rest properly, or did something _really_ bad in their life. Don't ask me what happens to people if they believe in God or reincarnation and so fourth. I do not know, nor do I care.

These new forms, or ghostly appearances, have talents or obsessions. Their talent/obsession is influenced by what they did in life, or how they died.

For example, Skulker was a hunter before he died (and died while hunting), so he became the Ghost Zone's "greatest hunter" (Not really).

But after becoming a ghost, can you die? The answer is yes, and no.

No might seem like the obvious answer; there is no ghost zone for the ghost zone! But a ghost can fade from existence. If their talent/obsession loses meaning in the human world, the ghost loses meaning to 'live'. They _need_ something to haunt, even if it's something stupid like lunch time or boxes.

Then, there are ghosts who are so completely and truly _evil_ , other ghosts live in fear of them. Like, Chuck Norris would see these guys and run for mommy. Phobos, the ghost that gave me the circle scar on my back, is an example. So is Pariah Dark and my father.

The observants (I hate these guys) have the power to execute them... with help. To execute a ghost, you need multiple elements depending on the ghost. Long story there.

Finally, there is Danny and I. The half ghosts, half human hybrids. Well, the only ones people love anyway. Or, _loved_.

The ghost half and human half balance out one another. Depends on the other for survival.

Say I fought a ghost, and he killed me while I was ghost. I would not become a full human like you may think. I would disappear. Imagine Danny being ambushed and posiened. Both Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom would be gone.

Sucks doesn't it?

"I'm tired. What bout you?" Danny's voice dragged my thought back to the present.

I nodded, and we collapsed on the bed. The mattress was _perfect_. The sky was still dark, but the sun was beginning to rise.

"Can I ask you something?" Danny turned to look at me.

I nodded.

"Why have you stayed with me. I mean," He went off after seeing my look of confusion. "When he got caught the first time. You could have denied being ghost and they never would have known."

His fingers grazed the star charm around my neck. Somehow, it had always hidden my powers.

"Or when we escaped. I was in a lot worse shape then you were. Any time you wanted, when I was sick, when that dog bit me, you could have left. Vlad would have taken you back, I know he would have."

I ran my fingers through his knotted hair. "Why are you asking me this? Danny, why would I _ever_ leave you? You are not just a friends, but my _best_ friends! If anything ever happened to you-" I couldn't bear to finish the thought.

"I just... your life would be so much better if you'd left me. You wouldn't be hurt." He hugged me closer to him, and I hugged him back.

"Maybe not physically." I admitted. "But mentally, I would be dead."

He frowned, not understanding what I meant.

"Danny, I would never be able to forgive myself for leaving you to fend for yourself. Running from the Guys In White _alone_. Suffering _alone._ The pain of losing my best friend would kill me before any GIW agent."

"But you'd be safe." He argued. "We wouldn't be here."

"There's no place I'd rather be." I didn't mean Jump, or the tower, or even the room. I was talking about being right there, in Danny's strong arms.

"We could be in the most painful experiment the Guys In White have to offer, but as long as you're with me, I don't care. As long as we're together."

He smiled faintly. "Face anything together. We promised that a ling time ago." He paused. "Didn't we?"

I nodded and we shifted closer to each other, our noses almost touching.

"I never want to be without you Danny." I could barley hear myself, but he heard it loud and clear. My heart pounded in my chest as he said his next words.

"I never want to let you go."

Our eyes locked. His beautiful, blue eyes. And I knew with my whole heart that this was how things were supposed to be. This was what I wanted.

With that final thought, we kissed.


	24. Battle scars

I woke up before my eyes opened.

_Please don't let last night be a dream!_

It wasn't. I knew that deep in my heart. I had _kissed_ Liz.

FINALLY!

After we kissed, we really hadn't stopped. I'm not sure what time we fell asleep, but it was fairly early in the morning.

I flexed my shoulders and winced slightly. Getting run through with shards of ectorainum can really make you sore.

Next to me, Liz shifted slightly and opened her.

"Morning." I told her sleepily.

"Look at you!" she yawned. "Waking up _before_ me for a change."

She sat up.

"Aren't you sore?" I questioned.

"My side hurts, but moving honestly doesn't make a difference." She turned to me, and I saw the over protective glint in her eye.

"What about you? How are YOU doing?"

"Fine."

"Do I really have to tell you to elaborate?"

"I'm sore, but it's not as painful as yesterday."

Satisfied, Liz stood up.

"What'chya doin'?"

"I'm taking a shower and getting into an outfit that's at least _halfway_ decent."

Biting back curses, I stood up as well.

"What? You don't think that _this,"_ I gestured to what I was wearing. "Is decent?"

She snorted. "Yeah. That's _totally_ what I call decent."

What was I wearing? Jeans that were severely messed up.

She walked into her bathroom and I followed.

"Yikes. What is all this doing in here?"

"The make up?" Liz tossed a tube of mascara across the room. "Don't know, but feel free to take as much as you like!"

"You realize I'm a guy, right?"

She smirked. "Yeah, but a little black eyeliner would really make your eyes pop!"

She brought the small pencil towards my face.

"Get that crap away from me!"

"Or we could give you blond highlights." Her hand rested on a bottle of bleach. "Lord knows the Guys In White would never be able to recognize you."

"No."

"You looked good in that lacy dress in high school... some pink lipstick perhaps?"

"No."

"I could braid your hair with ribbon... some mascara might look nice. You know, with red eyeshadow."

"No!"

"I could have Starfire help me wax your eyebrows-"

"HECK NO!"

"Lip gloss?"

"I'm walking away now."

Liz laughed. "Danny, wait!" I turned.

She stepped behind my and I felt the pressure caused by the ace bandage lessen. Slowly, without moving, she unwound it from around my chest. I noticed her staring for a moment longer then needed when it was off.

"Ouch."

I nodded in agreement. My ghost immunity had started to kick in, knitting my ribs back together, healing over cuts and replenishing my strength. But my skin is still human, and the marks left from ghost fighting are always pretty nasty. Such as the bruise on my chest.

"That really must have hurt." Her chin was on my shoulder as she gazed into my eyes.

I lifted my other shoulder, the now scared one.

"I guess."

She turned me so I was looking at her face to face.

"Are are you doing Danny? Really?"

I looked away. As much as we shared, Liz would never understand what happened in those six days. Our first visit might have been longer, but in a lot of ways, it was better.

"I'm not scared of the Freaks In White anymore."

"Are you serious?"

"I'm scared of Sam. And Tucker. But mostly Sam. She has them all following her like mindless little puppies. They Guys In White don't know what they're doing. Sam does."

"I-"

Before she could say something like she understood or was sorry, I turned away.

"I'm gonna wash my hair." Looking over my shoulder, I saw Liz watching me walk away, a look that I couldn't read on her face. She shut the door.

I had never answered her question. How was I doing? Terrible. 100% done with life, and with Sam.

My eyes were glued to my mirror, taking in just who I was, who the Guys and White had formed me into.

Dark hair twisted and knotted into a mob that would take a good hour or two to undo.

Lost eyes that had seen things no person should ever have to.

Strong body that had been broken beyond the point of repair, and yet was still standing.

The bruises would heal. But the scars wouldn't. I had a few I hadn't noticed before.

There was the one on my shoulder, but more too. A small one was above my left eye, less then an inch long. One was on my hip, low enough the even low jeans would hide it. Each wrist was scabbed over where skin had torn. The last was the same size as the one above my eye, and rested on the back of my neck, hidden by my hair.

It was like the GIW had marked me as theirs. Like _you can run, but you belong to us. Forever._

The thought made me feel sick. They might as well have used an iron poker with the letters G- I- W.

Gingerly, my fingertips grazed the bruises on my face and neck. Thank God Liz hadn't pointed them out. Then again, they spoke for themselves.

My arms and chest were scratched with tons of little red lines. I knew that by the time I got out of the shower, they'd be gone. But the memory of them wouldn't be.

But all these things would heal. Even the scars would eventually lose meaning and maybe even fade away a little.

But nothing could heal the mental scars I now had. Every little movement I saw from the corner of my eye made me jump, expecting Sam to be there to pull the trigger.

I turned the shower on and waited for the water to warm up. When I stepped in, the water on the white floor was tinted with neon green and red.

My blood.

I tried to convince myself that with every patch of ectoplasmic mixed blood that was washed away, the memory of the Guys in White went with it. That every muscle that relaxed was slipping away from the GIW radar, forever. That every tear that slid down my cheek would drown them.

At some point, the blood was gone. My body had healed over the scratches and other minor injuries, and my hair was as normal as a 16 year old cares to have it.

I stepped out and wiped the steam off the mirror, hoping that somehow I looked like me again. Like Danny Fenton used to look- innocent, happy, free.

No such luck.

The refection disgusted me. Looking at it, I noticed that the scar below my hip was gibber then I'd been able to tell earlier. What I'd seen was the 'I'. Blood had covered the G before it and the W after.

They really had branded me as theirs.

Chucking the bottle of shampoo that was in my hand, I stormed through the door joining my bathroom with my closet.

Despite everything, the sight of TMNT memorabilia made a smile find its way to my then a chuckle. Then a laugh. Soon, I was on my knees, laughing insanely.

Even though I was a jerk, even though it annoyed me, even though I was scarred for life, Beast Boy had done this to make me laugh. He had done this for me, just because he knew I needed a little humor in my life. Because he _cared_.

Standing, I yanked a dark blue, long-sleeved shirt from a hanger, and pulled on a pair of black jeans. Paranoia caused me to grab a light hoodie so the hood could hide the scar on my neck.

Seeing it as some sort of irony, or way to be the old me, I tied the laces of my red sneakers with a smirk.

I walked into reality... where my heart nearly stopped.

Liz was laying upside on the couch, watching a movie. Her hair was in two braids. She was wearing _short_ shorts, and a shirt that exposed her stomach. It was black and had Danny Phantom's logo on it. Black boots crawled up to her knees.

When she noticed me, she jumped.

"Whoa. Are you trying to look like a mugger?"

"What's with the shirt?"

She rolled off the couch and walked over to me. "It seemed... right." She glanced at my feet. "Those don't really go with your whole 'bad boy' look you got here."

"It felt right. And um... _braids?_ "

"I used to wear my hair like this when I was younger." Her eyes filled with concern. "Why do you have your hood up? Your hair looks fine."

"I just... want it like that."

"And the long sleeve under it? And the jeans?"

"They look good on me." She wasn't buying my excuses.

"What are you hiding?" Liz ran her fingers over the scar above my eye. "Oh."

"What?"

Liz gave me a sad smile. "Your hiding more marks, aren't you?"

"A few..." I didn't want her to see where someone had carved the companies name into my skin. I didn't want her to see any scar at all. They made me feel vulnerable. Weak. And beaten.

"You don't have to hide from me." Her whispered breaths tickled my ear as she slid my hood down. "Show me."

Looking at the floor, I let her move my hair away and see the mark on my neck.

Ashamed, I didn't protest as she rolled my sleeves back and inspect my arms. When her hands rested on my hips, I tensed.

"That's all of them." Lying to Liz made me feel sick, but she was scared too. She was scarred like me. But she wasn't branded. And if she found out I was, no one would be able to stop her from killing every person she saw wearing white.

"Danny, I'm so sorry." She wrapped her arms around my torso. Her embrace was so familiar, so perfect, it made the world seem to slip away.

"It's not your fault."

She looked into my eyes, and I saw something surprising. The look they held was the same that my eyes had. Fear, rage, defeat. And in the middle of it all, there was still life, hope, and love.

"I know. But..."

"But?"

"I love you." She pressed her lips to mine, catching me off guard.

As I kissed her back, I smiled. "I love you too."

She pulled away and looked into my eyes. "Promise me that you'll talk to me about it when your ready?"

"I already told you what happened."

"I know. But when you're ready to tell me what it did to you, I'm here." She turned on her heel. "But right now, I need food."

I did too. Ghost immunity is not a free thing, we need LOTS of food to keep it going. Smiling, I jogged after her.

The kitchen was in the same room as the living room, so every single titan was there waiting for us when we walked in.

"You live!" BB announced playfully.

"Danny, you look like you're going to rob a bank." Cyborg commented. He was frying bacon, and the smell made my mouth water.

"Hungry?" Star asked sweetly.

Liz and I nodded.

She handed me a glass full of something yellow and thick.

"What's this?" I put the straw in my mouth.

"Danny!" everyone but Star yelped.

Oh.

 _Oh_.

_Mustard._

Starfire, you are one beverage challenged fruit loop.

"Is it not the most delightful drink!" She asked gleefully as I gagged.

"Super!" I swallowed and it almost came back up. "But I'm more of a soda, juice, and water guy."

I handed the glass to her, and she was more then happy to gulp it down.

"Just be grateful she didn't insist on cooking this morning." Raven hissed as she floated past.

Liz suddenly burst out laughing. And didn't stop. Everyone circled around as she rolled on the floor, hugging her sides.

With no idea why, I also began to laugh. The Star joined, then BB, the Cy. Robin kinda laughed, but it sounded like someone recorded him laughing and stuck it on replay. Raven just watched as we all laughed for a good ten minutes.

"So, why exactly are you laughing?" She deadpanned.

Liz sat up, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "Danny's face when he swallowed that stuff was hysterical."

She turned to me.

"It was just funny that Liz was laughing."

Raven looked at the rest of her team with raised eyebrows.

"They were funny; I didn't see what they were laughing about." BB giggled.

"Same." Cy smiled.

"It is fun to laugh." Starfire smiled.

Robin said nothing.

"Who wants bacon!?" Cyborg hollered.

Everyone but BB and Liz jumped up.

"I got tofu pig here too." Cy rolled his eyes.

Soon, Liz and I were stuffing our faces with the rest of the titans.

"So-" Liz wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "What are you guys doing today?"

"Training." Robin said shrilly.

"Cool." Beast Boy rubbed his hands together. "I need to practice turning into bugs."

"Gross." Raven buttered a biscuit.

"Are _you_ ," Robin pointed at me with his fork. "Are going to train with us."

"What about me?" Liz protested.

"Robin shook his head. "No way sweetheart. You got shot, he didn't. You need to rest."

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, _what_ did you just call me?"

Starfire looked hurt. I guess Robin had never called her a cute pet name like that.

"I'm just saying, you shouldn't really even be out of bed. And definitely not dressing like a slut."

Liz stood up so fast, her chair tipped over.

"You think I'm not strong enough? I can kick your butt any day of the week. You want a replay of last time we spared?"

Robin stood up slowly.

"Listen little Star, it's not that think you're weak- you aren't. What I'm saying is you need to let your body heal."

"Little Star?" Cyborg gave his leader a strange look.

"Yeah." Robin shrugged. "You know, twinkle twinkle little star?"

Liz looked ready to punch him.

"And besides," Robin needs to learn to shut up. "Last time, you got lucky. You could _never_ beat me when I actually tried to win. C'mon, you're a _girl_. And I'm Robin."

Crap. Crap, crap, _crap._

If there is one thing Liz hates, it's being told she's not as good as boys.

"I can guarantee you that I am the best fighter you've ever met! I can kick your good for nothing hide into the ghost Zone and back without even breaking a sweat."

Robin smirked and walked slowly towards her. "But you play fair."

She faced him. "I can play dirty."

"Not as well as I can."

Robin grabbed one of Liz's braids and pulled, _hard_.

"Robin!" Starfire screeched.

Liz bent to where Robin had her hair. She tried to kick him off her, but he seemed incapable of feeling pain.

"Let go of her!" Cyborg demanded. Everyone was standing.

"She wanted to play dirty." Robin shrugged. "Not my fault she fights like a girl."

"You don't want a fair fight? _Fine_."

Robin, you're a dead man.

Liz pried his hand off of her and straightened. As everyone watched, she went ghost. She gave me a look that said, _you coming?_

I went ghost too.

"Unfair enough for you?" I questioned as I got behind him. Swiping my leg under him, he fell to the ground with a CLANG.

Everyone stared at him.

"Uh... anyone else hear a giant tin can fall?" Raven looked around the room, confused.

"Must have been my bird-a-rangs." Robin muttered. "Now stop being petty. Danny, come train and Liz... Come be his cheerleader girl friend or something."

"G _irlfriend!?"_ Starfire sounded happy, Cyborg was amused, Liz was embarrassed, I was confused as to how he knew that, but BB and Raven sounded mad about it.

"Yeah. I assumed that when you guys kissed, it sealed the deal."

Liz turned as red as my face felt. "How did you know that?" it was almost a growl.

"Just a guess." Robin winked (ew) as he stalked out the door. "Sounds like I was right."

"Remind me to kill Bird Brain later." I sighed as I face planted on the bed.

Liz eased down next to me, her hand moving in small circled between my shoulders.

"You didn't _have_ to train! Everyone gave you that option."

"Everyone but Robin. He said, and I quote, 'If you can be a real man and push past the pain, you should train with us'. Do you _really_ think I had a choice?"

She smiled. "Fair enough. But you did better then him."

"No I didn't. I sucked."

"Yes you did. But you _looked_ better doing them!"

"Cause that helps."

She rested her head on my shoulder. "For the record, you'll always be better at him where it counts."

I sat up. "Like where?"

Her hand rested on my chest, above my heart. "Here." My lips met hers. "And there."

I huge yawned forced it's way out of my mouth. Soon, Liz was doing the same.

"Bed time?" She asked, heading towards her closet to change. I nodded and went to mine.

Most of the PJ's were TMNT (BB, I hate you) so I just grabbed a pair of grey sweat pants. Doubt Liz would mind.

When I walked out, she was already under the covers.

"Sexy." She admitted, her eyes lingering on my abs. "Better then they were when you were 14."

"I wasn't sleeping with you when we were 14."

She laughed. "Don't say it like that!" She stuck her tounge out at me.

"And what exactly are you wearing?" I teased.

She sat up in bed so that the sheets fell off to reveal the t-shirt that went down to cover half her butt.

She blushed. "All the other stuff looked to hot. And... I didn't think you would care."

I laughed.

"Trust me, no complaints here."

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked as I lay next to her. "Like I'm a Goddess?"

"Because you are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

"Prettier the Paulina?"

"Who's Paulina?" It took a second to remember the mean, popular girl I used to drool over. Luckily, Liz liked that answer.

"What about you?" I brushed her bangs aside. "You're looking at me like I'm Derek."

"You are _so_ much better then Derek."

"My hair isn't dyed red."

"Who cares?"

"His abs were there when we were 14."

"You had abs then too!"

"I don't have my ears pierced."

"Thank God."

"I can't bring myself to call you 'Lizze'. It just doesn't work for me."

She smiled. "You're perfect Danny. Now shut up and hold me."

I pulled her close, and closed my eyes.

"Good night, Ghost Boy."

"Sweet dreams, Inviso- Belle."

_A scream. Someone was screaming. A someone I knew all to well._

_Liz._

_I opened my eyes and saw Tucker struggling to keep her in his arms. A gag was forced into her mouth._

_"Sorry to wake you up bro," Tuck said passively as Liz tried to hit him._

" _Actually," Sam leaned over me. "I'm not."_

_I was on my back, Sam was literally crawling over me. Her leaned down and pressed her forearm to my throat, cutting off my air. With the other hand, she cupped my chin, twisting my face this way and that._

_"Huh. I knew that scar was new. Just another reminder of us, right?"_

_She removed her arm so I could breath._

_"Pop math quiz- I know you hate those. How many times did we claim you as ours?" Her black polished nails dragged over the scar over my eye. "One." She clawed at the one on the back of my neck. "Two." Sam's palm pressed on my shoulder. "Three."_

_She cocked her head to the side. "There's one last one."_

_Her paper white hand slide down to my hips. She dragged my sweat pants down just enough to see the letters GIW._

_"The one that will never let you forget." She turned to Liz and Tucker. "I think we should brand her too."_

_Sam tossed a pocket knife to Tucker._

_I tried to move to get to Liz, but Sam kept me pinned._

_I was helpless to watch and listen to her screams as her arm became Tuck's canvas._

_S_

_A_

_M_

" _She belongs to me now." Sam's eyes glinted. Her lips came closer to mine. "And soon, you will be too."_

_"Get OFF me!"_

_She smiled wickedly. "Oh Danny. Don't you see? We own you now." The knife Tucker had used to cut Liz with was suddenly in her hand, and inches away from my face. "That means we can do whatever we want with you."_

_The cold metal pressed into my skin, not yet breaking skin._

" _We can kill you, and no one can stop us."_

_"get away from me!"_

" _Calm down." Sam sounded like Liz._

_"DON'T TOUCH ME!"_

" _Danny," Liz's voice was coming from Sam's mouth. "Danny I'm not going to hurt you."_

_"STOP IT!"_

" _Wake up!"_

I opened my eyes and saw Liz over me instead of Sam. Her arm was not cut and bloody. It had been a dream.

"Danny calm down!" She put one hand on either side of my face, wiping away tears I hadn't known were there. "It was a dream Danny, just a dream."

I nodded and tried to slow my breathing.

"I have something I need to show you." I slid the hem of my sweats down a little.

"Danny, what are you- Oh my God."

She covered her mouth with her hands as she looked at the grotesquely carved letters permanently printed into my skin.

"They basically own me now Liz." I burried my face in my pillow, fighting the urge to sob. "I fought, I failed, and they branded me. I can never escape the memory of them, I can never deny being there, and I can't deny being me anymore."

"Danny? Danny look at me please."

I turned to look at her. She smiled down at me, brushing my bangs out of my eyes.

"Don't let this be a tattoo that defines life, OK? Give the letters G- I- W a new meaning then Guys In White. It truly doesn't matter."

I didn't answer.

Liz put her face next to mine so close our noses almost touched.

"Sleep on it. Think of a new meaning. Just don't let them win."

Sleep was winning me over.

The last words I heard before drifting into a light sleep was "Don't let Sam win."


	25. Mt clock is ticking- Liz

Screw the guys in white over, and plow them down with the specter speeder. They _branded_ my boyfriend. Sure, I could call myself 'branded' because of the scars on my back, but Danny was _branded_ branded.

And I saw how much it was making him doubt himself. The past few days, he hadn't talked much, even to me. He wore long sleeves to hide the marks, even though it was way to hot for them. His face was always hidden by the shadow cast by the hood pulled over his head. I could barely even coax a piece of bacon into his mouth.

In training (which they _still_ wouldn't let me do) Danny hardly even tried. He'd let Robin kick his butt at sparring, would let Beast Boy use TMNT as a punch line for every joke, ignored Cyborgs cooking, didn't smile when Starfire grinned at him, even _Raven_ tried to cheer him up. And she's Raven!

And Night was the worst.

I'd cuddle up with him, but if my hand even accidentally touched where he was branded, he would pull away.

The Guys In White - or more specifically _Sam_ , would pay dearly for this.

I woke up that night and rolled over to look at Danny, sleeping soundly. I had to talk to him, even if he didn't like the timing.

Gingerly, I brushed the back of my hand across his cheek. His skin was slightly warmer then normal.

"Danny?"

He shifted.

"You feeling OK?"

"What time is it?"

I glanced at the clock. "Two."

"PM?"

"AM."

He sat up and looked at me. "Are you OK? Why are you waking me up so early? Do you need to talk about something?"

"It's you who needs to talk."

He lay back down.

"Danny..."

"No.

"Danny! Sit up."

When he did, he wouldn't meet my gaze.

"Why are you so depressed?"

"You really want to know?

"YES!"

Danny glanced at the window. "Liz, I don't know. I just... feel so defeated."

That was a first.

"Do you remember that feeling?" He asked. "When we'd fight a ghost and lose? How we felt so stupid and worthless?"

"Yes."

"It's like that." His hand rested on his hip, the one he was branded on. "Only, there is no 'We'll get em next time'. I _failed._ I couldn't keep myself safe from a girl I used to have a crush on. I couldn't fight back. I let them not only use me, but _brand_ me."

His fist slammed into his pillow.

"Why does that make you feel so defeated Danny?" I nudged him with my shoulder. "C'mon. You did your best."

"My best wasn't good enough."

"It is for me."

For the first time in a days, he looked at me. "But you aren't trying to kill me."

"Danny, listen to me. Sam is gone. Tucker is gone. They never were our friends, and they never will be. They don't define you."

He leaned back. "Yeah? Then what does define me?"

"You."

For some reason, this didn't seem to work with him. Danny glanced at the wall, not caring. So I tried again.

"Danny, you make a name for yourself. You make your own definition for yourself!"

"And what is my definition? 'Kid who is labeled as GIW property'?"

"No!" How could he be so clueless? "You know what your definition is? It's bravery, strength, compassion. In short, 'Hero'. So you have a few new battle scars, cool! It Shows you care enough to fight. Heroes without scars are the careful heroes who run at the sight of danger! You? Danny, you eat danger for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner! And anyone who looks at you can see it. In the way you walk, the way you talk, and the way you act. Weak, beaten? No. Those aren't you. You want to know why?"

Danny stared at me with wide eyes, but nodded.

"Because those are the traits of a quitter. And you aren't one of those. You're a _fighter._ A _survivor._ A Hero. My hero."

"Since when do you do inspirational speeches?"

"Since you decided that you hated life."

"I don't hate life." Danny smiled at me. "Thank you."

I didn't have to ask what he was thanking me for.

Satisfied, I let sleep wash over me again, and pull me into a black place of nothingness.

_"So, you think he's the only one with problems?" Sam and I were watching something on the TV. But nothing but the grey static lines filled the screen. Nothing made a sound even though there were clocks in the room. A lot of them actually._

_"Oh Liz, you always have been a naive one."_

_I looked around the room I was in. Every single thing was 100% pure white._

_White couch, White table, white TV and stand, White walls, White plants, white floor and white rug. Sam was wearing white too. A white business suit like the ones the Guys In White wear. Her black hair was pulled back in a high pony tail. For once, her lips weren't purple. They were white._

_And the clocks! There must have been at least a dozen, maybe more. All different shapes and sizes. The minute and hour hands moved, but the comforting TICKS and TOCKS never came._

_"Just look at your life." Sam was looking at me and smiling, like we were two best friends just having a normal conversation. "You have never had a normal life. And you never will! A half ghost forever and always. You've never known anything different. To know what being a normal human is like."_

_"Why would I want to?" It was OK to talk to Sam. She... she was my friend._

_The TV played with scenes from my life where Sam was my best friend. Of course she was my best friend! A friend who was just making conversation._

_"Oh I don't know. If you did, then you might actually stand a chance of staying with Danny."_

_Danny. Danny? Who was Danny?_

" _He really is mine." Sam changed the channel on the TV. I watched the two have a fake out make out. And another one. "Besides, how can someone who is alive, date someone who is dead."_

_The clocks began to tick. Not softly, but loud, echoing booms that shook the room. The white china tea set on the coffee table vibrated and jumped, the tea splashing out of the cups. Yet it wouldn't make a mess! But it wasn't the brown/black color tea is supposed to be._

_It was blood red._

" _Quite tragic really." Sam looked bored as she stared at the TV screen. On it, Danny was crouched low over a tombstone. When I read it, my heart nearly stopped._

_**Here lies Elizabeth Masters.** _

_It read more, but I couldn't bring myself to read it. "He really did love you." Sam concluded her sentence._

_The ticks of the clocks echoed in my chest, my heart beating to the rhythm._

_And Sam just looked at me. "I wonder how far he will fall, how crushed he will be when your gone? Will he crawl back to me?"_

_"He would never stop living." I knew who Danny was now. My boyfriend and best friend. And he wasn't going to be crawling back to **anyone**. "And he would never lose me!"_

_Sam laughed. "Sweetie, have you seen yourself?"_

_I looked down at my body. I was wearing white, which was beyond wrong. The V- Neck went a little low for my tastes, and the long sleeves annoyed the crap out of me. Especially because they had enough extra fabric hanging off of them to make a tent. The skirt bunched up on the ground- I wasn't tall enough to keep it off the floor. My feet were slipped into delicate little white flats._

_It was something people would get buried in._

_I stood up, freaking out. "What is this!" I demanded, looking at Sam. She didn't say anything, just watched with an amused little smirk on her face._

_Everything was turning black. Sam's suit was replaced by a dress that was black as night. The living room I was in was transformed into faces all to recognizable._

_Danny, Sam, Tucker, Vlad, the teen titans. Others were there too. My mom, my little sister, my dad. Slade was there. Jessica and Derek were too. Everyone I had ever met was standing before me, dressed in the black clothes of a funeral._

_As I watched, a red patch of blood spread over my stomach, the place where I'd been shot._

_And the people just watched. I tried crying out to Danny, to anyone, but my voice wouldn't work._

_My hands were shriveling slightly, like I was being drained of blood. My hair lost volume and shine. I was dying._

_Danny stepped forward, the same expressionless look on his face that was on every other face._

_I tipped back and fell onto something._

_Or **into** rather._

_A box? No. A coffin._

_Everyone looked down at me with no emotion on their faces as dirt fell on top of me, one shovel full at a time._

_"Your time is ticking, Liz." Sam sounded miles away._

_I wanted to cry out that I wasn't dead, that I was still alive! Stop burying me! I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive!_

_No words left my mouth and I was pulled further and further into darkness._

_And suddenly..._

"GOOD MORNING FRIENDS!" Starfire shouted as she burst into my room.

Danny and I both bolted up, screaming. Him because BB had just waltzed in, taking on the form of an elephant and blowing his trunk. Me, because I'd just had the creepiest nightmare ever.

"I don't remember ordering a wake up call." Danny snapped, turning over and closing his eyes.

"Well Robin ordered one for you." Beast Boy said cheerfully, back in his human state.

"Joy." my heart was still beating insanely fast.

With that, Star and BB left Danny and I to get dressed, and walk down to the kitchen for breakfast.

What happened next, I'll never forget.


	26. WWIII

"Hey, you OK?"

Liz stared at me strangely as I asked the question.

"What are you talking about?"

"You woke me up before Beast Boy and Starfire did. You were muttering about time ticking or something. I was about to wake you up when our room became a walk in petting zoo."

She looked away. "It was just a stupid nightmare. Nothing serious."

"Sam was in it."

"How did you know?"

"I didn't." I smiled. "But I do now."

"Jerk." Liz punched me playfully and smirked, but she still looked a little shook up.

If _Liz_ was having nightmares then something was wrong. It was even worse if Sam was in them, and even WORSE if she was actually scared by them.

But I didn't have time to ask her more. We walked into the kitchen and were immediately welcomed by the lovely aroma of pancakes. _Chocolate chip_ pancakes, I might add.

"Morning sleepin' beauty." Cy said cheerfully. "And you too Liz."

"Hilarious." I rolled my eyes as Cy snickered, his joke portraying me as a blond Disney princess who slept for years apparently hysterical.

"Hey Danny Boy," Robin flicked a melted chocolate chip at my face, where it stuck. "You got something on your face."

"How old are you?" Raven asked, annoyed.

"When surrounded by 5 year olds," Liz began, clearly ticked off. "Do as the 5 year olds do." She picked up the pitcher of syrup off the counter, walked over to Robin, and turned it over. The entire contents of the container spilled onto Robin, making his hair sticker then his cheap hair gel already made it.

The room erupted with laughter.

"Nice hair!" BB commented.

Starfire floated over to Bird Brain and dragged her finger through his maple syrupy locks. After getting a big enough glop of it, she sucked it off her finger contently as everyone else gagged.

"Gross Star." Liz moved away, still suppressing giggles from turning Robin into a human waffle.

Robin was still glaring at her with disgust. "Alright you little freak, let's go."

"What did you just-" Liz was cut off as an egg soared though the air and broke on her arm, the yoke running down and making a puddle on the floor.

"You did _not_ just do that."

Robin launched another one, but missed. Instead of Liz, he nailed Beast Boy right between the eyes.

And just like that, it was WWIII with food. Bacon planes flew though the air, and sausage bombs fell. Egg landmines were strategically placed at just the right spot, and various fruits were shot at each other.

I couldn't tell who was hitting me and who wasn't. On second, I'd be hit with a strawberry, the next I would be slipping in melted butter. I managed to lodge a strip of bacon in Robins fast hardening hair. Liz was a mess.

Her hair was decorated with peaches, pears, and pineapple chunks. Toast was glued to her like armor. She had bacon in her hand, wielding the strips like weapons.

She ducked as Robin hurtled a biscuit smothered in Jam at her. It hit Raven, who had been staying away from the flying food. And let's just say, she wasn't happy.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" She scram, pouncing on Robin. Everyone was glowering at him, except Liz and I, who were just confused.

"YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE A LEADER HERE!" She continued. "And here you are, being a jerk to two people we should be helping. 'Freak'? Throwing food at Danny? You are acting like a little kid! And you need to knock it off before someone knocks your head off!"

Unfortunately, that pissed Starfire off.

"Robin has done _nothing_ wrong!"

"Star, he is being mean for no reason." Beast boy argued.

Liz glanced at me. This didn't seem good... team member against team member. And the truth was, it was our fault.

"Should we be scared, or enjoying this?" I whispered to Liz.

"Let's just stay out of it." She replied.

"You say things like that to each other all the time!" Star snapped. "You wrestle and argue and call each other names and through food and act like wild Zilgos all the time!"

I assume a 'Zilgo' was something from her home planet.

"This is different Star." Cyborg began.

"How?" She retaliated. "How is it any different then when you and friend Beast Boy argue over the game of videos?"

"Thanks Red," Robin smirked at her. "But I don't need a chick to take care of me."

"ROBIN!" BB shouted.

Starfire glared at him. "Perhaps I was wrong." She muttered, her voice cracking and eyes filling with tears.

"About what?" Robin questioned.

"About _you_." She spat. "I thought you were kind, I thought you were a friend, I thought you were a leader. But you _aren't_. You are mean, you are cruel, you are acting like... like... like _Slade!"_

Bird brain seemed shocked.

"I thought you liked me." He whispered.

Starfire pushed him away from her as he moved forward. "I did too."

Robin fell on his butt and Starfire raced out of the room, tears streaming down her face.

"Star!" Liz ran after her.

Everyone was silent.

"Pissed off the chicks bro." I backed towards the door. "You're a dead man."

Just as I turned towards the door an alarm began to wail.

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Beast boy screamed, covering his ears.

"IT'S A BANK ROBBERY!" Cyborg shouted over the noise.

"WHAT DID YOU PEOPLE DO!?" Liz yelled as she walked in, covering her ears.

"BANK ROBBERY, GET STAR!"

We all ran out the door. Star purposely tripped Robin as we piled into the car.

"Why are we doing this?" Liz whispered in my ear as Cyborg sped to where a bank was being robbed.

"Because we really didn't get a choice."

"This isn't right..." Raven glanced out the window. "No alarms here... no running people no screams. Nothing that says 'bank robbery'."

She wasn't lying. What was ever stranger was that there seemed to be no people whatsoever. No shoppers, no tourists, no humans at all.

Cy stopped the car.

As we all stepped out, a single voice sliced through the otherwise silent air.

"Well hello Robin," A tall figure stepped out of the shadows. "I do hope I picked a suitable time for you destruction." And Robin was sent flying.

 


	27. It froze and blew up-Raven

Is their an award for " _creepiest creep of all time"_? Because if there is, Slade wins it, hands down.

I knew we were in trouble when the guy began speaking in his signature creeper voice. I wasn't able to process the fact that we were totally and utterly screwed until Robin was sent crashing into Cyborg.

And then, you know, Slade walked out of the shadows.

"Decided to keep the things you found on the side of the road, aye Robin?" Slade had his arms folded behind his back as he strolled causally over to Danny and Liz.

"Speaking of things from the side of the road..." Danny muttered under his breath.

"Oh Daniel. Always a witty little boy, aren't you?"

"I like to think so." Danny stepped in front of Liz slightly, in a protective way.

"And you." Slade turned to Liz. "Well, I'm sure you're parents are _very_ proud."

Liz seemed to shrink away and try to hide behind Danny. "What do you know about my parents?"

"Oh, nothing much." Slade shrugged. "Just that your mother hated you from birth. Your father was a ghost and was the one who gave you that star charm. Then you AD or adopted father was Vlad Masters, who by the way is a ghost too. You've never ever heard from your mom since you were 12, you assisted with the banishment of your father when you were 14 and that same year," He leaned close to Liz. "Vlad turned you and Dan into the Guys In White to be killed."

"H- how-"

Danny shoved Slade away from his stuttering girlfriend.

"Oh! Protective are we?" Slade shoved back.

"Leave them out of this!" Robin growled. His hands quivered by his sides like he was going to draw a gun from an imaginary holster.

"And you... well you're hiding the biggest secret of them all aren't you, Little Bird?"

Robin froze. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh please." Slade had circled us all so many times, we had gathered in a small clump.

Starfire's hand gripped my wrist and I could sense Beast Boy's urge to take my hand. Danny and Liz were in the center of our little circle, glaring at the One Eyed Man as he taunted us.

"I do hope you aren't naive enough to think they didn't notice. The cruel way you've been acting, the way you hate Elizabeth and Daniel?"

At that, Robin decked the guy in the face.

Danny and Liz raced to a bus stop room at the order of Cyborg as the rest of us jumped into action. The Strange thing was, there was no 5 foot tall, cheap hair gel using birdy calling out 'titans go!' before we did.

Sadly, even when it was 5 against 1, we got our butts handed to us.

Beast Boy was KOed first with a _hard_ uppercut to the jaw. Star was next when Slade yanked her wrist and tossed her life a Frisbee. Cyborg was then shut down by an electric spark caused by Slade. In no time at all it was down to me, Robin ans two ghosts who were hiding in a place where they could easily find a ride out of town.

So of course, Danny and Liz had to flash some sexy Ghostly mojo.

Every time I watch them change, I can't help but shudder a little. I mean, being able to change your DNA, your clothes, your eyes, your _everything_ \- it's not natural. Not that ANY super-powered person is natural.

"OK, now you're gonna die." Liz snapped, her hand igniting with a purple glow. Her other hand seemed to spark with electricity.

"Am I?" Slade cupped her chin in his hand. He almost seemed gentle in doing so. As if he actually cared if she was hurt or not. "Or is there someone _else_ whose death bed awaits?"

A shot of green light sent the creep soaring into a wall.

"Touch her again," Danny looked more ticked then I'd even seen him. "And you won't have an arm to touch her with."

Robin had run over first chance he had to pound Slade into dust, but of course, the odds of something hurting the dude and slim to none. Before anyone knew what was happening, Slade had Robin by the neck and planted a solid kick to my stomach. While I was distracted (and Robin was chocking) he back-handed Liz and Danny do hard, the slide back 8 or 9 feet.

"Fine group of fighters you got here." Slade told Robin sarcastically. The jerk had lifted Bird Brain a foot or so off the ground, his hand never leaving his throat.

"Just... part... of... the... team." Robin panted, his face slightly red from lack of oxygen.

And I couldn't move. The world seemed to have stopped. I knew it hadn't because I was breathing, Danny and Liz were moving. But it was muffled, like nothing I'd ever felt before. I felt like I was trapped in jell-o. Sounds and movement were slowed, yet not impossible.

But every sound was heard. And what I heard, I wish I hadn't.

"Part of a team that is doomed to fail." Slade seemed to smirk. "Look around Robin, there were seven of you, all with powers or ability's. And even together you were no match for me. Do you really think that you could possibly win? Even now my power grows stronger and once it's at it's peak there will be no man, woman, or child that will be able to escape my wrath. I'll kill them one by one, starting with your precious 'team'. And I will keep you alive _just_ long enough to hear them and the rest of the world scream."

Another shot of ghost energy came from Danny. "Sounds like fun." Steam wafted from his fingers.

"But that is _never_ going to happen." Liz finished for him.

"Oh?" Slade dropped Robin, who collapsed in a gagging, gasping, glob of color. "How long do you think it will take them to find you? To track you back to this place?"

It wasn't hard to tell which 'they' he was referring too. "And what will make you look worse?"

Slade glanced over his shoulder at all us Titans. Cyborg was still sparking and on the ground. Starfire had managed to crawl over to him before blacking out. BB was close by, stirring slightly, a nasty bruise on his jaw line. If I'd wanted, I could have reached out and touched him. But whatever trick Slade had had up his sleeve (or in his boot, actually) had drained my energy. And Robin was there too, still recovering from a little more then a minute of not breathing.

Liz and Danny shared a look.

"When the entire city thinks you killed the Teen Titans!"

What happened next happened insanely fast. Slade was suddenly holding a blaster and aiming it at my team. My defenseless, easy target team. I saw his finger pull the trigger and knew I had to move, I had save me and my team. I didn't have to.

Danny and Liz must have taken cheerleading together or something. One second they were five feet in behind Slade and the next, Danny swung Liz up and over him. Ice formed a flawless sheet under Slades feet and I saw Danny on his knees, the ice coming from his touch.

The ice melted where Liz stood on it. A green glowing rope wrapped around her waist and Danny skated in a quick circle around the gun holder.

Nothing had fired from the weapon; it must have been on of those stupid _pull twice to activate_ things.

And luckily for me, Slade was in to much shock to fire a second time.

While Liz knocked the blaster out of Slade's hand, Danny made the ice climb up to Slade's chest. He was frozen in the middle of the street. Everything, except his left elbow.

What a stupid mistake it was not to notice that earlier.

"Impressive. You made an ice skating rink on a public road. How thick is this, 3- 4 inches?"

"Thick enough to keep you from moving until the police show up." Danny snapped, folding his arms.

"And at the same time, thin enough that I can melt it quickly." Liz glared at Slade.

Slade broke his arm out of the ice to show the grenade he had in his hand. "Unfortunately, I don't think you're services will be needed, _Lizzie._ "

Liz froze, the grenade evidently only noticeable from my point of view. "How did you know-"

And with that, the pin fell and 6th avenue was blown apart.


	28. I'm not a doctor- Liz

Waking up under a pile of rock is not fun, for those who have not experienced it. The street we'd been on was totaled beyond imagine. There is clearly a reason people don't through grenade in the middle of the street.

At first glance, I believe myself to be alone.

"Pretty messy, huh?"

My neck cracked as I whipped around to see Slade, his arm trapped under a boulder.

"All this, and you get trapped by a _rock_?" I snickered.

"I could escape whenever I wish." His fist collided with the rock, and it split.

"Oh." I suddenly sounded very small.

This was the first time I'd had a true, honest look at Slade. He was tall. His entire structure seemed born to kill. And the whole one eye thing... ugh.

"You're alone." I looked around and saw he was right. Although alarms were wailing, smoke was rising, and fires burned, no one seemed to be around. Including Danny and the Titans.

"What did you do to them?"

"Nothing."

I felt rage like nothing I'd ever experienced well inside me. I wanted to punch this guy in the face, possibly more then I wanted to hurt the GIW.

"Interesting. Are you scared?"

"I'm not scared of anything." OK, that was a lie. I am scared of a few things- deep water, the guys in white, what being shot did to me, the world, and losing Danny.

"I think we both know that to be a lie."

Slade was seriously creepy. And at the same time, I could have sworn I knew him from somewhere.

"You're scared for everyone. Everyone, but yourself."

"There's nothing to be scared of. Why should I worry about myself?"

"Oh you silly girl." Slade took a step towards me. "You purposefully let yourself get hurt for others. You have no value for your own life. A life, that is very fragile, and getting weaker by the second."

Annoyed, I shot a blast of my purple ecto-energy into his chest. "Buzz off creep."

I can't be sure, but I think he smiled. "As you wish, Lizzie."

With that, he faded into the shadows, leaving me alone and weak to find my friends.

Turns out, they were closer then I thought. Danny was about 6 feet away from where I woke up. The titans were easy to find as well. They were just a bit scattered.

"Will _one_ of you wake up!" None of them responded to my desperate cry. "I swear, Danny if you do not open your eyes I will leave you here!"

Nothing.

"Robin, I will burn every mask you have so you're forced to show us what colored eyes you have! WAKE UP!"

Nada.

"Beast Boy, Cyborg, I will unplug your X-box and delete all of your high scores!"

Threats weren't going to wake them up. I couldn't load them all into the car, and even if I could, I didn't know how to drive! I leaned back on my hands and sighed.

"It was smart of you not to threaten me into consciousness." I turned, and Saw Raven crawl into a sitting position. I'd forgotten about her.

"Omigod!" I almost hugged her, but the glare she sent my way froze me in my tracks.

"You're hurt." She commented, taking in my appearance. She was most likely right. I felt numb which for me means I was so hurt, my brain couldn't process it all.

"So are you. So help me get everyone back so we can get fixed up."

Raven tried to stand, but fell back on her knees. "I can't." She spat, clearly ticked off. "Whatever Slade did drained me."

I looked at everyone else and took in how bad of shape they were in. Ironically, Danny and I were the worst. I guess being within 5 feet of a grenade will do that.

I went ghost. Shockingly, it _hurt._ Like, it felt slightly like I was peeling off a layer of skin as it happened.

"You OK?" Raven cast a concerned glance in my direction.

"Peachy. Now, don't call me crazy."

"I live with 3 boys. Nothing phases me."

I grinned, the stinging of my flesh subsiding. "I might be able to uh... teleport everyone back. But I need your help."

"You can teleport things?"

I used to... But I didn't want to tell her that there was a high chance we'd end up in the water surrounding the tower, dooming us all. Better to stick to the optimistic 'I can do it'!

"Yeah. It will just be easier," _and safer,_ "If you help."

She nodded. Moving very slowly, Raven grabbed Cyborg's arm and BB's hand. We looped Starfire's arm through Robin's (took a quick picture for her, just to be funny) and I laced fingers with Danny. On the count of three, we closed our eyes and focused on the Titans Tower.

"Smooth." Raven said sarcastically once we stopped rolling over one another.

"Not my best landing, I'll admit it."

We were in the living room of the tower. Raven sighed and collapsed on the couch.

"Shouldn't we be making sure everyone's OK?"

She shook her head. "They'll live. You can play doctor if you want, but I'm crashing."

I wasn't going to play doctor. I would end up making things worse if I did.

My butt hit the couch and I sighed. "Slades a real pain in the butt."

Raven nodded. "Yup. He's the worse."

"Why does he seem so interested in Robin?"

Raven sat up, her hood falling back. "We don't know. Ever since they saw each other, they hated each other. Total arch enemies."

"Why is he interested in me and Danny?"

Raven turned to look at the pile of people we'd deposited on the floor. "I'm not sure. Slade is a really messed up guy. But Robin won't let him hurt either of you." She looked up a little shyly. "Neither will I."

I smiled. "I thought you didn't like us!"

Raven rolled her eyes. "I like all my friends."

"You consider us your friends?"

"Sure." She lifted a shoulder. "And everyone else does too. You may not hang out with us much, but you're part of our team, and our friends."

"Maybe we should hang out a little more."

Raven seemed hesitant. "I'm not really a fun person to hang out with."

I laughed. "Trust me Raven, I think you're awesome. How about this weekend, we kick the guys out to have a guys night out and we have a girls night in?"

"Starfire would have to stay with us. And she can be a little..."

"Crazy?" I guessed. Raven smiled ever so slightly. No joke! I got Raven to _smile_.

"Maybe being crazy would be a nice change."

Suddenly, sparks flew off of Cyborg and he sat bolt upright.

"Cyborg" Raven and I leaped off the couch and ran to him.

"Yo! What just happened?"

"Slade." Rave snapped. She pulled her hood up and just like that, the cool girl who wanted to hang became the loner we all knew.

Cyborg glared into space. "That good for nothing piece of- wait why are we all on the floor?"

"Long story." My head landed on a pillow. I'd forgotten how draining teleporting could be. Cy nodded and tossed both Robin and BB over his shoulder.

"I get that you two are out of it, but _everyone_ needs to be checked out. Can you help get Danny and Star down to the infirmary?"

It took a while, but we got everyone down and settled. Cyborg busied himself with setting up the needed equipment to check every teen. And me? Well, I was so tired that I didn't even notice I was falling asleep in a room with white washed walls. Maybe it was the exhaustion that caused the nightmare- maybe it was the walls. It might have been the fact that Danny wasn't next to me as I dreamed. Whatever the reason, my nightmare _sucked._

_"Did you **really** think you could get rid of me so easily?" There were multiple voices chanting that sentence over and over. There was Sam, Tucker, The GIW, Slade, and my father._

_And I don't mean Vlad. Well, Vlad was there too, but Robert O' Conner, my biological dad was right in front of me. That must have been when I realized it was a dream. My dad couldn't be standing in front of me. Why? Because despite the fact that he was a ghost, he was dead. Banished. Proven so evil that every other ghost deemed it to risky to keep them around. Any and all ghosts with elements joined together in order to 'kill' him._

_My lightning was the final thing that brought him down._

" _You aren't real." I turned to my father. "Especially you."_

_"But are you sure about that?" Every person around me spoke in unison, in the same emotionless tone._

_"Danny and I killed you. Fire and lightning, remember?"_

" _How does it feel to have blood of your father on your hands, forever? To know that you killed the very man who gave you life?"_

_"I had too! He was to evil for even the most evil ghosts."_

" _So was Pariah Dark. And Phobos. But both came back, and both haunted **you**."_

_"To think," Sam stepped forwards. "That every time the world thinks it's worst evil is gone, it only comes back to harm you. Not so much Danny, as you."_

_I took a step back. As creepy as it was, she had a point. Pariah, Phobos- both had been 'killed' and had come back to hurt me. And I didn't even assist in their banishment._

_Pariah had taken over my city. Forced Danny into almost killing himself, and almost revealed to him that I has the Star of Amity Park. Phobos had been 'killed' before that! And yet the circle scar on my back proved that he had come back. What was stopping my dad from coming back? What if he already was?_

_"And to not know the curse you have, the story behind your charm, your life, your pain. How do you look in the mirror?" Sam brushed her fingers over my palms. "Because if you looked, all anyone would see is a murderer. A lost little girl who knows nothing about herself. The blood of her father, the blood of her friends, and blood of herself permanently stained on her hands."_

_Looking down, I saw she was correct. My hands looked like they had been coated in a thin layer of red paint._

_"Everyone you loved. Everything you care about." Sam looked disgusted. "Don't you wish you could change it? Take it all back?"_

_I dragged my hands over her black shirt, dying it a deeper shade._

" _No. I wouldn't. Everything I did, it was for the better cause. Every time I had to hurt a friend or lie or fight- I was saving someone else. You, Tucker, Danny, the city, the **world**. If anyone has blood on their hands Sam, it's you. Torturing me? Danny? Everyone? What was the point? To show that all girls aren't sweethearts? Because trust me, you made that point the day you were born."_

_"Oh please. I don't need to make a point for anyone. All I did was follow the predestined plan."_

_"Predestined?"_

_Sam smirked, like she knew some huge secret. Of course, that wasn't possible because this was a dream, and my mind couldn't know a secret I couldn't._

_"Just ask Clockwork. Trust me, it will **all** make sense eventually."_

_I rolled my eyes. "As fun as that sounds, I think I'm just going to wake up now."_

_As my mind slowly pulled back into the real world, I heard all the people mutter, "Run away Liz. Just like you always do."_

_My eyes opened just in time to hear Cyborg whisper to Robin "This is not good. Not good at all."_


	29. Costume changes and Ember- Danny

"This is _not_ good. Not good at all."

"What's not good?"

I opened my eyes and looked to my left. Liz was sitting up in a cheap looking cot. She looked awful. Her hair was a tussled mess. Cuts and bruises stood out easily against her pale skin. Scraps of cloth hung off her cloths in every witch way. If that's what she looked like then I hated to imagine what I looked like.

No one seemed to have noticed I was awake. So I didn't call any attention to myself.

"I uh, nothing!" Cyborg would have had one of those little sweat droplets next to his head, had this been an anime. "Nothing's wrong Liz!"

"You might as well tell her." Robin snapped, folding his arms over his chest.

"Tell her _what?_ " Liz looked at me so fast, she almost gave herself whiplash.

Looking at the other cots, I noticed Raven and Beast boy had woken up to the sound of our yelling. Starfire was nowhere to be seen.

"Well unless-" Robin began, but Cyborg clamped his hand over his mouth.

"Nothing, nothing. There's just uh, something not clicking in Liz's system. It's probably nothing- maybe something she ate."

He didn't sound anywhere near convinced of his own statement. No one else did either.

"Or it could be because she just got blown away by a grenade." BB offered. "That's gotta mess up everybody."

"Then why is Danny fine?" Liz slide her legs over the side of the cot to look at everyone easier.

She had a point. I may have been sore and tired and hurt, but I didn't feel any worse then normal after a fight.

"He's uh, not. He's not." Cyborg turned and typed on the computer as Robin snickered. "Yeah BB, you were right. They both have uh, grenade powder in their lungs. Yeah. But erm, they will both be fine! _Just fine!_ "

Liz and I glanced at each other. And then we noticed the white walls.

Turning slowly, it felt like the walls were getting bigger and closer together.

"Guys? Guys! What is _wrong_ with you two?" Raven snapped her fingers in front of my face.

"It must be the white walls." Cyborg decided. I couldn't seemed to respond. The walls just kept getting taller and closer and _taller and closer_.

"They're panicking. Beast Boy, do something."

He snapped his fingers and grinned. He pulled out his T- communicator and pressed a button on the side. "Hey, Starfire! Can you bring some cans of paint up here?"

A static filled response came through.

Liz locked eyes with me. The walls weren't as scary when someone so beautiful is in front of them.

Soon, Star walked in with half a dozen cans of paint balanced in her arms. She handed one to everyone with a huge smile on her face. "Shall we paint?" She questioned.

I looked at the paint in my hand. Prying off the lid, I saw it was neon green.

"Purple?" Liz questioned, dipping her finger into her pot.

"Mine's blue." Cyborg flicked a drop at Beast boy, who had orange. Robin had red and Raven had black. Star fire was happily swirling her hands in a can of neon pink.

"What is this for?" Raven questioned.

"The walls of course!" BB walked towards the wall, but tripped. His paint spread across the tile floor, making it look like an orange had been murdered. "Star, we may need a few more cans."

Starfire left, dragging Robin with her. Both of them came back, shuddering under the weight of the cans. Everyone got three cans of paint, all of them the colors of the rainbow.

"Now what?" Robin asked.

"We paint!"

BB walked up to a wall and dipped his hand into a bright yellow. He slid his fingers over the white washed walls. Liz walked to another one, painting a purple heart.

"Cool." She laughed. She beckoned for me to follow her lead. Soon, everyone was making cool shapes and designs on the wall.

"Hey Liz, I think you might be sick." I joked.

She turned to look at me as if I were insane. "I feel fine. Why do you say that?"

"You just look a little green." Smiling, I dragged my green finger over her cheek.

She gasped in an amused why. She looked down at her other two cans of paint.

"Are you sad Danny?" Liz questioned as she bent down to a can of blue. "Because you're looking a little blue." She chucked a handful of the paint at my face.

Laughing, I stumbled back, wiping it out of my eyes. Our eyes connected on the red paint at the same time. I looked over my shoulder and saw Robin staring at us, annoyance written all over his face.

"Robin, you look a little mad." Liz said sweetly, lifting the can of red casually.

"I'd almost say he looks red with anger." I lifted an eyebrow as Robin backed up a bit.

"No. No! If you two dare get a single drop of that on me-"

"Oh Robin, we wouldn't _dare_ to waste a _single_ drop of paint on you." She winked at me. "We'd go all the way!"

Before anyone could react, and everyone was watching, Liz dumped the entire can over Robin's head.

"Ooh!" BB and Cyborg laughed.

"You have a thing for messing up people's hair, don't you Liz?" Raven questioned.

Starfire grinned. "This is amusing?" She asked. Everyone but Robin nodded.

"Then this too, would be considered worthy of laughter?" Without a second thought, she tossed a bucket of pink at Liz, who became drenched in the stuff.

Everyone laughed, including me.

Liz dragged her hands over her eyes and glared at me. With a smug look on her face she launched a can of yellow at BB and the wall behind him.

"Dude, it is _on!"_

Everyone began grabbing cans of paint and tossing them at each other, even Robin and Raven! Handful by handful, the room and everyone in it became tie- dyed messes. We looked like a rainbow had decided to throw up on us.

Suddenly, just as we ran out of paint, an alarm began to wail.

"PLEASE TELL ME THAT'S THE CLEAN UP ALARM!" I shouted as everyone covered their ears.

"THERE'S SOMEONE COMMITING A CRIME!" Cyborg yelled over the noise.

"LET'S GO!"

Still coated in paint and covering our ears, we all raced to the T- car.

As I buckled in, my mind flashed to the last time we thought we were saving someone. It turned out to be Slade and I got to learn what it feels like to be blasted by a grenade. Needless to say, I was not anxious to repeat that experience.

"My poor car seats." Cy murmured as he drove. "The paint is _never_ gonna come out."

Liz and I turned intangible and let the color slide off of us. Cyborg looked at us out of the corner of his eye. "Any chance you could do that to my seats?" He questioned hopefully.

"Yeah, maybe later." I looked out the window.

"Assuming this is a real crime and not Slade again." Raven muttered under her breath.

Liz looked out the window, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. The day wasn't the same as the day before. Today, people were roaming the streets, eating outside, and children played in the part. The sun was shining and it was a _beautiful_ day! As a jogger ran past and I couldn't help but think of the jogger who had paid for Liz and I to eat. I couldn't remember his name, but if he hadn't done that for us, things would have been _much_ different.

People walked their dogs and street vendors tried to strike a bargain.

Translation from the mind of a guy who trust almost no one: _people_. People who could be undercover GIW agents. People who most likely knew both the secret I shared with Liz, and that we'd escaped.

Liz looked like she was thinking the same thing. We would still help, but people could see us. And if they saw us, then they could call and report us too. And then the nightmare of a life time would make a third return.

"Him _again?_ " The car screeched to a halt and everyone pitched forward and Robin jumped out of his seat.

The 'him' that he was referring to was the weirdest guy I've seen in a while. His skin the same color as the Box Ghost. All in all, he looked like a magician. And a little like Freak show. He was robbing a bank in the single most predictable way possible. He had a little brown bag with a green $ symbol on the side that was bursting with cash.

"I feel like we just walked in to the middle of a cartoon." I whispered to Liz. The titans were already fighting him. As sad as it was, they weren't doing very well.

Liz laughed and leaned on the hood of the car. "Man, can't you just see it? This would make a pretty cool TV show wouldn't it?"

"What would?"

"Our lives." She ducked as BB, in the form of a duck, flew over her head. "Just think of it! 'Danny Phantom and Star Of Amity Park'! The story of two teenage half ghosts!"

"It sounds better just as 'Danny Phantom'."

Liz grinned and shoved me playfully. "Fine Mr. Conceited! Have it your way. But can't you just see it? It starts when we're 14. All the characters are _perfect_. Sam- the goth girl who has a crush on the male lead, and is desperate to change the world. Tucker- the nerd. Crushing on the female lead and asks out every girl he can. Danny- the sweet, normal boy with ghost powers. As time goes on, he grows from the innocent angel to the slightly less innocent, badass ghost hunter! Then, there's me. The missing character for you 14 year life. I'm the new girl who is adopted into the hands of your arch nemesis. I have ghost powers, but I can be a brat with them. I'm the sweet girl who has an attitude." She stopped when I could not longer contain my laughter. "What? It's a cool idea!"

"OK, but Sam was the first girl. And then there's Paulina. She was sweet and sarcastic. Sam was sweet and sarcastic. How to you beat them?"

Liz folded her arms in thought. The blue clown the titans were fighting was trying to run away and came in our direction. Without a second thought, Liz tripped him and he slammed right into my fist. He stumbled away muttering "It's the hybrids"! Yes, yes it was.

"I guess I come in because Sam was- key word _was_ \- nice. But not really. She teased Tucker about lots of stuff and had a crush on you. She had a really bad attitude about life in general. Paulina was the popular girl who used her powers for evil. She wasn't 'nice', she was a flirt. Forget sarcastic, she was just plain mean. So, I'm there because there needs to be a girl who is nice. Which I am. Just as long as you don't tick me off. And let's be honest, one half human, half ghost just wouldn't make sense."

I nodded in agreement. "It didn't make sense. You didn't even tell me that you were the Star of Amity Park until Freak Show almost killed you with reality gauntlet. It _sucked_ being the only hybrid. No one could ever understand what I did, or how I felt." I shook my head a bit. "Remind me again why we're talking about this?"

Liz shrugged. "Because I'm an actress who always wanted her own TV show."

I laughed. The idea of my life as a TV show was ridiculous. Kinda cool, but ridiculous.

Liz and I looked up as we heard Robin practically roar with anger. The Box Clown, as I chose to call him, was kicking his butt.

"Should we?" I asked.

Liz nodded. Her eyes scanned the scene that surrounded us. The titans were battling in the middle of the street. As much as I hated to admit it, they were doing a fairly decent job of avoiding damage to the buildings. Liz and I had never been too good at that part of the job.

But there were people. Either running for their lives, or forming a large circle around the titans as if they were watching a fight unfold in the hall of high school. Some took videos. Other shouted words of encouragement to their favorite super heroes.

"Do they know how dangerous it is to do that?" Liz questioned as some dude in his 30's tossed a metal folding seat to Starfire, screaming "give him the chair!"

"Apparently not. I know how we can either scare the crowd off, or make it bigger."

Liz pushed her hair behind her ears with a determined look on her face. "Are they ever _not_ going to owe us?"

One thing to say: when Liz makes an entrance, she makes an _entrance!_ She hopped onto the hood of Cyborgs car and then to the roof. A few people turned to stare at her, and whispered among each other. The titans half froze to watch what we were doing. Box Clown whimpered a little and tried to hid behind Beast Boy, who was in the form of a gorilla.

"Well," Liz began. She placed a hand on her cocked hip. "I see you're having a party. And you didn't invite me." In a swift blur of color and light, she flipped off the car and transformed into The Star Of Amity Park, landing in a crouch. Her eyes widened as she saw her uniform. It was totally new. It was white and purple, which we had never even considered.

A purple collar came halfway up her neck. It stayed there because her star charm was fastened to the fabric. Her trademark purple star was in the center of her chest, but it was different. Now, it looked like a shooting star as opposed to the 5 point shape she'd always had. The white sleeves were long, but not long enough to get to her writs. They ended at her elbows. Purple fingerless gloves that looked like leather were on her hands, so her entire forearm was exposed. A purple belt hung loosely around her waist and had a pocket at the the pure black outfit we'd had before, her shorts were really short. If her arms were flat against her sides, then her shorts would end at her writs'. Her tall boots climbed the rest of her legs. The seemed to have a hidden heel, because Liz looked about 3 inches taller then she had two seconds ago. It looked like there was the tip of a _gun_ hidden in the top of the boots. Her hair was different too. A purple headband with a star on it pulled her bangs back, and kept her hair behind her ears. She turned to look at me.

"Uh, we didn't plan this, right?" I shook my head. "Well what are you waiting for?" She pointed a finger at me. "See if yours is different too!"

So I went ghost too. And as strange as it was, I looked totally different as well. My costume was white and neon green. In a lot of ways, it resembled my first uniform, then in a lot of ways it didn't. First and foremost, my shirt was a hoodie. It wasn't one of those long sleeved ones either. No, this was cut off at the shoulders. The entire hoodie/vest thing was neon green. I had a normal white tee-shirt underneath it. In the center was my DP symbol- that thing was going to haunt me forever. My jeans were white too. They covered the top of my neon green boots. Like Liz, my green belt had a large pocket that dangled by my hip. Something hard was in it. My hand (which were only partially hidden by gloves that looked exactly like Liz's')Slide into to and wrapped around a gun handle.

_Who thought that was a good idea?_

Liz flipped her hair over her shoulder and shot an indignant look at a guy who was filming everything on his Iphone.

"Go ahead. Stare. It's The Star of Amity Park, right in front of you!" She folded her arms. "Scared?"

Box Clown ran towards us, a big mistake. As he swung the sack of money at us, Liz and I both hit him with our ectoplasmic blasts. He fell on his butt, moaning. However, he got right back up and ran in another direction. I pressed my palm to the ground and tried to spread ice close enough to him that he'd freeze. Unfortunately, he was a quick little freak.

Seeing my difficulties, Liz began launching fire. As Box Clown dodged, he trapped himself in a circle of fire and Titans. Then, my ice froze him to the spot.

"CURSES!" he spat.

"Yeah, yeah. Curse you Danny Phantom and Star. We've heard it all before."

BB and Cy came over and high-fived us. "That was wicked bro." BB said happily.

Liz turned in a slow circle, just realizing that the crowd of people had gone silent. People of all ages just stopped and stared, their mouths hanging open. Cameras rolled, flashes were lost in the sun, but no one said a word.

"We aren't as evil as you thought, are we?" I asked, crossing the road. No one moved. "Starting to doubt what the Guys In White said about us?"

Liz glanced at me. Looking closer, I saw that there was a couple of film crews scattered in the crowd, filming live for their representative channels.

"Are you going to say anything?" Liz asked them. In response, someone tossed a rock at her. She caught it easily, and raised an eye brow. "Do you really think I'm _that_ bad?"

A rotten tomato flew at my head. I went intangible and it smashed on Cy's windshield. The robot was too shocked with our public talk to care.

"Can I ask you a question?" Liz walked closer to the people. "What did we ever do that was so bad, so wrong, that you would sit back and laugh as we were tortured?"

"You tried to destroy the U.S government!" Someone yelled.

"What proof do you have of that?" I yelled back.

"The Guys In White told us." A man said, looking me right in the eyes.

I rolled mine. "So a government facility the is determined to capture and kill every single ghost they see told you that two kids were half human and half ghost. Those were the same kids that saved their town from other ghosts time and time again. This agency tell you, with little to no proof, that those kids were evil and trying to burn down the very country they fought for." Liz smiled at me- a sign that I should keep talking. "So of _course_ it would make sense, right! Listen to the maniacs who want us killed, because they don't know us! I forgot that every super hero was actually an undercover bad guy."

"What proof do you have against it?" A teenage girl questioned.

"Does the name Amity Park ring a bell?" Silence. Judging by the guilty looks of 95% of the people, they were questioning everything.

"Other heroes are _human!_ " a reported called. She shoved her way to the front of the crowd, her camera guy hot on her heels. "While they may be genetically altered in someway, the Teen Titans are all human. They have no other race who can side with them."

Liz shrugged. "We're human too. Ghosts by _mistake_." Quickly, she went human. Bending down, she grabbed a sharp rock from the ground. Completely poker faced, she used it to puncture her skin. "We bleed, just like you do." She let the scarlet drops fall from her finger as she went ghost again. "We hurt, we cry, we fight, we laugh, we love. We are human in every way. The only thing that makes us different is our powers."

I pointed back to the stunned looking titans. "Exactly like them."

Liz walked up to a muscled man and smiled sweetly. "Sir, would you say that we're a threat? Dangerous?"

His eyes widened. "I uh. Yes. No? I'm not sure actually."

She grinned and looked past him. "Is there anyone out there? Anyone who is 100% positive that we are blood thirsty killers?"

A young man stepped forward. "I am." He sneered. "Your kind is despicable."

Liz flashed her smile again. "If you had the chance, would you kill me?" The man looked taken aback, and didn't answer. "And to add on to that- is there nothing I could possibly do to make you think we were innocent?"

He sneered at her again. "Of course not. I trust my government- always have and always will."

"How many agree with him?" I called, watching as hundreds of hands flew up. But for very one hand that went up, another stayed down.

Liz nodded. "OK. Sir, what's your name?"

"Aaron." He said simply,

"OK Aaron. Here." Liz pulled the gun from her boot and handed it to him, hilt first. He took it, and she backed up a few feet. With a poker face, she took my hand and looked at the crowd. "Then shoot us. Because if there is really nothing we could possibly do to make you see what a mistake you're making, then kill us. There's no reason to fight such a powerful mob of hate."

The titans called out in protest, but my extended hand told them to shut up. For the first time, I stared down the barrel of a gun. It was scary. By stomach was in knots and it was hard to breath. By heart hammered in my chest and I could feel my pulse in my ears. The stunned man cocked the gun, not looking ready to actually shoot us.

There were shouts of 'Do it!' and 'Give them what they deserve!', but Aaron stayed still.

"Why should I walk around with your blood on my hands?" He questioned, the gun not dipping from our chests.

"If we're so bad, you'd be considered a hero." I swallowed and hoped my voice wasn't shaking.

"Would it hurt?" His hands seemed to quiver ever so slightly.

"Pull the trigger and find out." Liz paused. "It wouldn't be the first time."

Another reporter pushed her way to us. "Are you saying you've been shot _before?_ " Liz nodded. "Yup. Got a scar to prove it."

"Ghosts can get scars?" The woman asked.

I snickered without meaning too. " _Half_ human. And of course." I pushed my bangs back to reveal the small line above my eye.

She winced. "Is that it?"

Liz shook her head, causing a few stands of hair to fall in her face. She slide the hem of my jeans down. At first I didn't know what she was doing. The horrified gasps of civilians brought my mind to th that was carved into my skin.

"You think that's bad?" I lifted a shoulder and looked at the sky, remembering the torture. "That is basically a paper cut compared to what we've been through."

"They said the experiments were to judge the way you work, and they best possible ways to protect the world from your evil." Aaron said absently.

Liz laughed. "Yeah. Shooting me was _totally_ doing that."

"Oh for the love of-" A different man grabbed the gun from Aaron. " _I'll_ do it. I don't buy this sob story junk."

Liz and I froze. He looked fully ready to pull the trigger.

1... he cocked the gun. Liz tightened her grip on my hand.

2... he took his aim. His aim, that was _right at me_.

3... he pulled the trigger. Something was flying at me.

4... There was a 4! I was on my back, seeing stars. I felt like I'd hit my head. Did that mean I was shot in the head? I didn't _feel_ like I was hit.

5... Gasps fell over the crowd. Something had shattered. But it wasn't me or Liz that had been hit. We were on the ground. But how? I hadn't ducked, and neither had she. I tried to sit up, but my legs felt tied to the ground. Twisting a bit, I saw that someone had wrapped their arms around mine and Liz's legs, making us fall.

"Sweet Lord!" I woman cried.

The little girl who had basically just saved my life looked up with tear rimmed eyes.

"No!" She cried. "I won't let you hurt them!"

Liz twisted away and crouched next to the little girl. "Sweetheart," She said softly. "This is a dangerous matter. I don't want you getting hurt."

"Ember. My name is Ember." Liz and I shared a brief smile, knowing that this sweet girl had the same name as a not sweet ghost.

"Well Ember," She had finally let go of my legs so I could crouch next to her too. "Thank you for your help. I mean it. But Liz is right. You could get hurt."

The girl was only about 7 or 8 years old. Her blonde hair was in pigtails. She was wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans. And she looked astounded to be talking to us.

"I don't care. You saved my life."

Liz frowned. "This is the first time we've been in Jump. I don't think-"

"I used to live in Amity Park. You saved my bus from falling off a cliff."

The memory came back to me. The day I had met Emoupho I'd caught a bus about to plunge off a cliff. Liz had helped me.

"I've always wanted to meet you." Ember whispered. She was smiling at us like we were made of ice cream.

"Ember!" A woman cried. "Get away from those _filthy_ little ghosts."

I had to hide a grin at that. I've been called a lot of things, but a 'filthy little ghost' was not on the list. "Ember," I began, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You should really go back over to your-" I stopped when I saw that screaming woman in pink. I swear, this chick would make Effie from the hunger games jealous.

Her hair was dyed baby pink. She was in a hot pink business skirt with a white blouse under a pink jacket. Her make up was all pink and she was chewing pink gum. She wobbled slightly on her pink stiletto heels. Her handbag was pink as well.

"That's my aunt Pinky. Don't mind her." Of all the ironic things in the world, that had to be near the top of the list. "I have something to tell you!" Ember said with excitement. She beckoned for us to lean in closer, like she was going to tell us the bigger secret she had.

Glancing up, I saw that there was still a gun pointed at me. Ignoring it. I leaned closer to the little girl. Liz followed my lead.

"Thank you."

At that, both my mouth and Liz's opened a bit in shock. Not once had _anyone_ come up to us to personally thank us for what we did. Well, not for what Phantom and Star did anyways. And fact that is was just a little girl- well that was a shock.

"Ember, _move!_ " Aunt Pinky cried. "And stop pointing a gun at my niece!"

The man who had pulled the trigger was still keeping the gun trained on our every move.

"No way! Not until I finish what I started."

Liz put a protective arm in front of Ember. "Turn the gun _away_ from her."

"No."

I stood up and stood in front of them both. I was a few inches taller then the man, and had to look down to see eye to eye. "You heard her. Put the gun down."

"Sir!" Robin shouted from behind us. "I must ask you to place your weapon on the ground."

"Robin!" The man barked. "You're _defending_ these things?"

Well thanks. I've always wanted to be considered a _thing_.

"They're heroes!" Ember called from behind my legs. She gripped one of them tightly, like it was her life line.

"Ember," Liz knelt down, an urgency in her voice. "Listen to me. Danny and I are so super happy that you helped us. You honestly saved our lives. But right now we need you to go back to your aunt, OK?"

"NO!" She gripped my leg so tightly, she was beginning to cut off my circulation.

"Ember, listen to me." I looked down at her. "You are officially a member of our team. You're a super hero, just like us."

She grinned. "Really? You mean it?"

Before Liz or I could answer, the Calvary rushed in wielding a pink purse and perfume. Embers aunt began beating Liz with her firmly packed handbag while attacking me with flower scented perfume. I will be tasting those chemicals for a week.

"No, no! Bad ghosts, bad!" She acted like she was scolding a puppy.

"Stop!" The titans rushed forward.

"Miss, please stop!" Beast boy requested, shooting a concerned glace my way as I wiped perfume out of my eyes.

Aunt Pinky looked suspicious. "Will you dispose of them?"

Robin swallowed hard. "Um... Sorta. They are our... charity projects. We are seeing if they truly are evil or they are innocent."

Ember ran forward and wrapped her arms around the skinny legs of her aunt. Pinky went down, Ember smiling all the way.

"Get in the car." Cyborg hissed. Liz and I stood still, totally lost. "I _said_ , get in the car. _Now!_ " Cyborg shoved us towards his baby, as the titans made a semi circle in front of us.

"They aren't enemies." Raven tried to tell the crowd. Liz and I raced to the T- car. The shattering he'd heard was the sound of the backseat window breaking.

"Argh!" the man who had been about to kill us chucked the gun towards the car. It was fairly easy to catch.

The titans did something to cause a smoke bomb and came back to the car. "Duck." Raven suggested. As we sped down the road, the car was pelted with rocks, soda cans, and more.

Liz smiled at me as we rounded a corner. "That was freaking _awesome!_ " As I watched, the smile melted from her face. "Get down. _Now."_

I looked behind me and out the broken window. All I saw was Vlad, and then the car began to fly.


	30. cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers- Raven

When Cyborg transformed the car into plane mode, I'm not sure why Danny and Liz were so freaked out. They're half ghost- they fly all the time.

But as soon as we weren't on solid ground anymore, they both let out high pitched yelps.

"Scared of heights?" Robin teased. I didn't get what was wrong with him either. He'd been acting mean and cruel and nothing like himself ever since we rescued Danny and Liz.

Maybe he was jealous. Maybe it was just teenage hormones. Whatever it was, I hoped it ended soon. I was sick and tired of him acting the way he was.

"W- why are we flying?" Liz stuttered, finally calming down a bit. Her face was white as a sheet and she looked like she might throw up. Danny was no different.

"Traffic." Cyborg said absently. "And I want to get home. Video games and popcorn anybody?"

BB cheered, Starfire clapped with excitement, but the rest of us were silent.

"Do you guys know who Vlad Masters is?" Danny asked, looking out the window with worry. It was hard to hear him over the wind- flying with a busted window was annoying.

"Sure." Beast Boy laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back. "He's like, super rich and stuff. And he's a mayor or something of..." He broke off. "Wait, isn't he the mayor of _your_ town?"

"He's a little more then that..." Liz gripped Danny's hand as the plane shook. We were over the water surrounding the tower. She looked sick. I guess it didn't help when something was shot at us and Cyborg began to lose control.

"We're going down!" He yelped, trying to avoid crashing through a wall. In the end, it was Danny and Liz who saved us. Jumping up, they went ghost and placed their palms on the walls.

Closing their eyes in focus, they became intangible and, in turn, made the ship/car intangible. So as opposed to _crashing_ into the tower, we flew _through_ it. Cy was able to apply the breaks, and we came to a calm halt in one of the many rooms of the tower.

" _What_ was that?!" Robin demanded, inspecting the damage.

"That- that's a _ghost ray!_ " Liz backed away from the wingless plane.

Danny groaned. "He weren't just seeing things."

"What are you specking about?" Starfire asked with concern.

"Long story short, Vlad is my adopted father." Liz paused as he all gasped. "Yeah, yeah. Shocker. Anyway, he is also half ghost. He is our Slade."

"He's _that bad?_ " I questioned.

Danny nodded. "Take Slade. Now, add ghost powers. And enough money to act good. Take away any heart and soul and BOOM! You have Vlad."

BB shuddered. "In that case," He took off running down the hall, trailed by us all. He skidded around the corner and into the living room. "We should probably activate the defenses."

Before we could go through with his plan, a man floated up to our window.

No joke, _floated_.

"And I'm guessing this is him." Robin pulled his BO- staff from his belt.

The man- or _Vlad_ actually- went intangible and floated right through the window.

"I see you haven't changed." Liz said snappily, eying her legal guardian up and down.

"I see you have." Vlad turned human. Once he did, I could tell easily that he was Vlad Masters- he'd been on enough covers to fill a dictionary.

"What do you want Vlad?" Danny ground out through grit teeth.

"My daughter." The guy pounced forward, pushing Danny to the ground, and grabbed Liz by the shoulders.

"Let go of me!" She demanded, attempting to squirm out of his grasp. Robin walked forward.

"Sir, unhand her."

Vlad turned to him, a murderous look on his face. "Or what?"

"Or I will _make_ you."

"You and what army?"

Danny stood up and got in a fighting position.

"This one." Robin smirked. "Titans, _go!_ "

Before we could move, a pink ray came from Vlad's hand and we were suddenly caught in a sphere. Danny growled.

"You really can't teach an old dog new tricks, can you?" He went ghost and blasted the wall, shattering it instantly.

"A little out of practice are we?" A green rope shot from his palm, and wrapped around Vlad's waist.

Vlad was ripped away from his adopted daughter as Danny pulled the old foe towards him.

"I'm only going to say this once Plasmius." Danny was taller then Vlad by a few inches. By now, he was actually a little taller then Liz too. In truth, his added height shouldn't have given him much advantage, but as he stood there glowering at the half ghost billionaire, he seemed to tower over the man."Get out of here. Do not come back _ever_. If you resist, I can and I _will_ beat you out of my way. Clear?"

"Ah Daniel, how I've missed this." Vlad taunted. "You just can't seem to out grow that childlike temper, can you?"

"Don't talk to him like that Vlad." Liz spat. I couldn't tell, but by the way she was rubbing her arms, Vlad had help her hard enough to leave a bruise.

"And dating my daughter! Well I suppose I should have seen that coming."

"I am _not_ you daughter!" Either Vlad didn't hear Liz, or he didn't care.

"You know Daniel, it's a good idea to ask the father for permission to date his daughter first."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Good to know. If I ever see Robert again, I'll keep that in mind."

Vlad laughed. "Oh the ignorance of youth! Don't you see the point? You can't escape me!"

Danny sent a solid punch to the guys jaw. Vlad's head snapped back, but he looked at Danny once again.

"You can't escape the Guys In White either. You are their property now anyways."

Another punch.

"Do you think anyone even cares? The titans, the public, that little girl? No one cares about you Daniel."

"SHUT UP!" Danny tossed the man into a wall as simply as if he was throwing a ball.

It was Liz who picked him back up. Of course, all that came of it was her drop kicking him back to us.

"Sir," Cyborg glared down at the guy, who was curled in a ball. "I'm going to ask you to leave. If you don't go willingly, we will be forced to be physical."

Vlad laughed. "You might go physical on _me,_ but would you go physical on _him!_ " In a mighty lead, Vlad jumped up, turned intangible, and went into Danny.

I did not know that was possible.

At first, all that happened was Liz gasping in horror. I didn't see any problem. That is, until my eyes locked onto Danny's.

They were blood red.

"Get. Out." Liz demanded.

"Why?" Danny's mouth was moving, but the voice belonged to Vlad. It was _beyond_ creepy.

"Because I said so."

"Do you think I care?"

"Listen Vlad," Liz stalked up to her boyfriend. "You can over shadow Danny, you can try and kill me, you can do _whatever_ you want, but I will _never_ be your daughter. I won't ever pretend to be again."

The intense look she was giving him was well, intense! Slowly, his face softened a bit.

"Well, if that's the way you feel," He darted over to the kitchen with incredible swiftness and grabbed a huge butchers knife. With an insane look on his face, he pointed the tip of the blade at Danny's throat.

"Come back home with me," he demanded. "Or the boy dies."

Liz froze, fear written all over her face. Then again, even I was creeped out to see Danny threatening to end his own life.

Liz shot me a desperate look, then smiled. Any idiot could tell her smile was fake- so Vlad didn't have a clue.

"Dad, you are _so_ right. I should go home!"

The blade dipped. "Really?"

"Oh of course!" Liz's voice was too high pitched to be serious. Even her tone was sarcastic. However, her body language and movements were convincing enough to trick the dope inside her boyfriend.

"Why don't you stop overshadowing Danny," Liz was slowly walking towards her adopted father, arms out stretched as if waiting for a loving embrace. She is a _really_ good actress. "And we can go back to Amity Park."

"Why?" Vlad questioned. "So you can run away again?"

"No, no!" Liz pouted in an over exaggerated way. "Why would I do that? At you place I'm famous, have a _huge_ room, anything and everything I want," Vlad set the blade down. "And it has a mayor that's not a fake."

In one swift leap- Liz went ghost, went intangible, and sailed through Danny's chest.

The poor guy collapsed in a dazed heap, shaking his head as if to clear it.

Liz, on the other hand, was punching the life out of the devil.

"Can you fell _that_?" Sh questioned, punching Vlad's gut. "Or that?" A kick to the jaw. Hit after kick after punch, Liz questioned the man on whether or not he could feel what she was doing. As strange as it was, he didn't seem to.

"Liz," Danny had finally gotten over being over shadowed. "What are you _doing_?" He pried a still fighting Liz off the billionaire.

Liz stopped and stood next to him, practically foaming at the mouth. "Tell me Danny," She demanded. "Tell me something was off when he over shadowed you!"

Danny laughed for a moment. "Do you think I was trying to protect that fruit loop?"

Vlad twisted and knocked them both off their feet. As the fell, Liz landed on her arm wrong and yelped, and Danny hit the side of his head on the counter. Judging by the way looked around, it had thrown his mind off track.

"You can't defeat me!" Vlad bellowed. "You will come with me, obey me, be my obedient little slaves!"

"Think again fruit loop." Liz, and a dazed Danny, kicked up, sending the man flying. When he landed, it sounded like a thousand TV's had fallen from the top window of the tower.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Liz asked.

She looked ready to murder Vlad.

"Don't _kill_ him!" Robin exclaimed, a look of terror on his face,

Danny snicked. His palm was pressed to his right temple- which was bleeding slightly. "You think a machine like him lives?"

Without a second thought, Liz turned her arm intangible, stuck it through Vlad's chest, and _pulled._

Had Vlad been human, I'm sure it would have been excruciating. But he _wasn't._ What Liz had pulled out where a heart should have been, was a computer hard drive.

The body of the now powered down Vlad went limp, the glow of the eyes fading, and the smirk on is face taking on a permanent frozen appearance.

"A... a robot?" BB asked cautiously.

Danny nodded. "A V-bot. Vlad has an obsession with things like this. He was too smart to come here in person, so he sent this stupid thing after us."

"Thanks for the help, by the way." Liz flipped her hair and walked over to Danny, pushing his bangs out of his face.

"You were doing just fine." Robin said absently. He hadn't made any move to help the two, so instinctively, neither had anyone else.

"Hey Liz!" Cyborg slung an arm around her shoulders. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Uh... sure?"

Cyborg pretended to inspect the cut on Danny's forehead. I knew he was faking because, well, Cyborg never just _looks_ at someone to see if they're OK. He has to run all kids of tests, hook them up to machines, be all scientific.

"Can you go get me a band-aid? You know, from the infirmary?"

Liz gave him a strange look. "And you can't do it because?"

"I uh... have to take care of this hunk of junk!" Cy kicked the motionless Vlad halfheartedly. "And because I want you to check if the paint is dry. And on top of that- if it's covered enough white for Danny and you to be in there."

Liz shot Danny a look that said _we're surrounded by idiots!_ But took off down the hall none the less.

Cyborg waved her off with a goofy grin on his face until she rounded the corner. Once she did, the smile melted into one of the most serious looks I've ever seen.

"OK, seeing as that was _clearly_ a way to get ride of Liz," I began.

"What is the direction of the sky? Star finished. Danny looked confused, but us titans had been around Starfire long enough to know she was asking 'what's up'.

"I'm sorry." Cy rushed. "I know that was a lame excuse. But I had to get Liz out before I told you."

"Told us _what?_ " Danny asked.

Cyborg took a deep breath. "I lied when I said that Danny and Liz had gun powder or whatever."

"No duh." Beast boy muttered.

Danny narrowed his eyes. "I kinda got that. The question is, _why_ did you lie?"

"Because I didn't want to freak anyone out!"

"Why would we freak out?" I folded my arms over my chest. My hood had fallen back, so my death glare was 100% viewable.

"If we don't find a cure for whatever bullet she was shot with-" Cy glanced at the door to make sure we were still alone. "Then Liz is going to die."


	31. Not falling at all- Liz

"Die like, 'I'm so excited I'll die'?" Beast boy asked hopefully.

I couldn't breath. I don't think Cyborg counted on me being so fast to get a band aid. I had just been about to walk in when I heard everyone talking in that serious secret tone. And they were using it to talk about me.

"Not happening." Danny said firmly. "We'll find the cure. She will _not_ die."

"Danny..." Cyborg began. "I may be half robot, but that doesn't mean hacking into the Guys In White main frame will be any easier."

"It's impossible anyways." Robin said with amusement. "They have thousands of firewalls, hundreds of double files to throw hackers off, long encrypted passwords, and even then think of how many files on Danny and Liz there are! Given the amount of time she has left to live, and the amount of files we'd have to dig through-"

"Just because it won't be easy, doesn't mean we won't try." Raven snapped.

I peeked around the corner to watch. Robin looked mad his speech hadn't stopped anything, and everyone else looked worried.

"How long does friend Liz have left to be alive?" Starfire asked, pulling at her gloves.

Cyborg looked t his feet.

"Well?" Beast Boy shook the robot. "How long?"

Cyborg muttered something no one could understand.

"What?" Danny questioned.

"Three weeks, give or take."

The box of band aids slipped from my grasp. Luckily, no one heard them fall. Three weeks? That was _it?_ Holy- _what_ had the Guys In White done to me?! I felt like I really truly could not breath. Dying. As in, dead. As in, no longer living, breath, _living._

_I'm 16. There is no way I'll die._

Could I even die? Well... yeah. Clockwork explained that to me and Danny a long time ago.

I leaned on the wall, looking at my hands desperately. Dead? Dying? It just could process.

"I'm not sure it's killing all of her though."

I could tell how every head snapped up without having to see it.

"Meaning?" Robin sounded angry.

"Like it could only kill her, or her ghost half." Danny mused. Cyborg nodded. "So," Danny went on. "She might be OK after all..."

"Can you guys survive losing your powers?" Raven questioned.

Danny thought about it. "I have. A few times actually. So, in theory-"

"Screw theory!" Robin interrupted. "Is it possible or _not?_ "

After a long pause Danny said, "Possible. I think."

I thought about it. Robin was right- screw theory! Theory said that if Danny could lose his powers, then I should be able to as well. But theory was wrong. Dead wrong. I wasn't Danny.

When Danny got his ghost powers, it was by accident. He had been a normal human being for 14 years! Because of that, loosing powers wasn't deadly. Without the ghost DNA, Danny's system could revert back to the way it had been for his whole life.

But me? I was _born_ with ghost powers. There is o part of me that ever was or ever will be a full human. There is no 'old way' for me to fall back on. If I lost the Star of Amity Park... Then Liz would go with her.

"Should we tell Liz?" BB asked.

"Sure Beast Boy." Raven said sarcastically. "You can go find her and explain that she might be dying."

No one said anything.

That was it for me. I turned and ran down the hall, as fast as I could. I jumped and pushed off the wall, doing a flip in midair and turning into The Star Of Amity Park.

Turning intangible, I jumped and soared through the upper levels of the tower until I landed on the roof.

This could not be happening. I would not, could not die. Giving the Guys and White that satisfaction would not fly. Neither would leaving Danny.

I walked over to the railing of the tower, gripping it tightly and leaning over. I couldn't, couldn't, _could not_ be dying.

I looked that the restless waves, so far down. I read once that hitting water from high up was just as bad as hitting concrete from the same height. Sounded like a better way to go then letting my arch enemy be the cause.

_Let's get a thrill Liz._

I stepped up on the railing, balancing and going un-ghost.

"You're crazy." I laughed at myself. I walked around on the thin railing, almost falling over the edge.

_Live a little._

I began doing jumps and handstands- all kinds of crazy stunts. I smiled, preparing to the stupidest, craziest stunt yet. I grinned at the sky. I leaned forwards then flung back, doing a triple back handspring and ending in a flip.

The problem happened at the flip. I kinda sorta ran out of rail to land on. Instead, I began free falling down the side of the tower.

I didn't scream. I laughed, twisting and laughing and moving through the sky, letting the wind play with my hair and cut through my clothes. The water was getting closer. I was in the middle of going ghost when time stopped.

Literally.

_What  
the- oh crap._

I looked up and saw _him._ Master of time, controller of destinies, Clockwork himself.

Joy.

"I would have thought you'd at least _try_ to preserve your life." Clockwork chuckled as he tapped me with his time staff, unfreezing me.

"I wasn't trying to kill myself smart one. Just living a little."

"It looked more like dying." Clockwork switched from his child form to that of an old man.

"Where were you?" I demanded. "Danny and I really could have used a time God on our side. You know, to stop us from being tortured."

"Do you think I enjoyed knowing what was happening?" Clockwork sighed. "If I had meddled, it would have messed up-"

"Messed up the rest of the time line, blah blah blah. Come on Clockwork," I turned away. I was literally walking on the surface of the water. "How could saving us be that bad? I mean if we hadn't been there..."

"You wouldn't be dying?" I whirled as he said it. He was in his child form.

"You know?"

"I'm the _ghost_ of time. If course I know."

I rolled my eyes. "So what are you here to do? Laugh in my face? Tell what not to do so I live longer? Gloat?"

"I'm here because I'm about to break my biggest rule." Clockwork turned into his middle aged form. "I'm giving you the chance to change history."

"Seriously?" He nodded.

"Great!" I smiled. "Let's go back to that day when we were first captured-"

"Not from there." I gave him a strange look. "There is only one period of time that we could change that could safely be altered."

I shrugged. "OK, sure. Is it when we fought a ghost, the time we first met the Guys In White, when?"

Clockwork offered me his hand. I took it and suddenly, I was being whisked back in time. When the rush stopped, we were in the ghost zone.

"This is the ghost zone 16 years ago." Clockwork looked down the island we were above. "This is the day the entire ghost zone changed forever.

Without another word, I settled back to watch.

We were above Desiree's island. As I watched, a ghost with pitch black hair landed on the island. He was wearing a red T- shirt and blue jeans with cowboy boots. He turned to look behind him. His eyes were red.

"Dad." I breathed.

"Desiree? Desiree, are you here?" He called.

The ghost of wishes appeared in a puff of smoke. She looked the same as she always has, except that her clothes were purple instead of teal.

"You summon the great Desiree," She said with her eyes closed. She bowed so low, her face was level with my dad's boots. "What wish can I grant you?" She opened her eyes and frowned.

"Hey Dezzie." My dad smiled. "It's been a while."

Desiree stood and crossed her arms. "Not long enough Robert. I already made you seem human enough to live in the moral world, what more could you _possibly_ want?"

"I thought you were over that now."

Desiree sneered. "I do not quickly forget a _traitor."_

"Or an ex." My dad muttered.

"Do you _seriously_ think this is about us? I am _so_ over you!"

"Wait, hold up." I turned to Clockwork. "My dad and Desiree _dated!_ "

Clockwork nodded. "The break up was not pretty. Now pay attention."

I shuddered and looked back at the scene before me.

"I need something for my daughter." My dad explained.

Desiree glared at my father. "You _mated_ with... with one of _them!?_ "

"Married, and yes."

Desiree tossed her hands in the air. "Do you have no respect for our kind anymore! It's bad enough you left us, but to _mate_ with a _human!_ What is it you desire? The doll that was discontinued? A doll house with real plumbing and electricity? FIND A HUMAN TO DO THOSE THINGS FOR YOU!"

"She's not a human girl." Dad explained. "She's well... she's a half ghost. With powers and everything. It's a bit of a shock to Claire."

"Claire? Is she the mortal scum you gave yourself too."

"Yes."

"Do you think she will except you for what you are?" Desiree spat. "You are a monster in their world, and to her."

"She loves me!" Dad yelled. "And I love her! I came here because I know you're the most powerful, most amazing ghost in this place." He looked at his feet. "You're the only one who can help me."

For a few minutes, there was silence. Finally Desiree spoke. "What do you require of me?"

"Something that will hide my daughters powers. Not take them away, but make it so she can't access them unless she plans to. That way Clair will be safe, and I can teach my daughter how to use her powers when she's ready."

"This will not be easy." Desiree mused. She turned her back to my dad. I could still see her face. She got an evil glint in her eyes and smiled evilly. "Will you be able to wait a few days."

"Yes."

"You love you're daughter this much? So much that you would risk coming to me?"

"You're my only hope Desiree." My dad said sincerely.

She turned and looked at my dad. "This wish will come with a price."

"What! You _never-_ "

"I a now. Leave." Desiree turned to walk into her tent of potions and other magic ghost things. "Come back in three days. Then you're wish will be granted, and the price known."

Nodding, my dad turned and prepared to fly away.

"What is her name? You're daughter?"

Dad looked over his shoulder to grin. "Elizabeth. Elizabeth Marie Desiree O' Conner." With that, he took off.

_Since when do I have two middle names?_

"Elizabeth." Desiree mused. "You my child, are about to get the deal of a life time."

I turned to Clockwork. "What did that have to do with _anything?_ I don't see how changing anything here will change anything now!"

Clockwork just put a finger to his lips and pushed the button on his staff. From then on, we saw a fast forwarded version of the making of my star charm.

Desiree mixed all sorts of her magical potions, and went searching for many more. She brought in ghosts' like Pandora, Frostbite, the ancient ghosts' who cast away Pariah Dark, Even Pariah dark himself! When I looked at Clockwork for an explanation, he shrugged.

"I had to go back in time and get him for... unsaid purposes."

We watched as the observants, and even Clockwork constructed my charm. In what seemed to be minutes, the three days past, and I watched my dad come back once more.

Desiree was waiting. Clockwork was there too.

"Here." Desiree snapped, tossing my dad the charm. He held it up and smiled.

"This will do more than hide her powers. It will strengthen them. What took you three years to learn will take her three months. It will also protect her."

"Protect her from what?" Dad asked.

"Dark magic." Desiree started. "Anti- ghost remedies and such. They can still kill her mind you. Nothing we could ever do will change that. But they won't hurt as much."

I thought back to when Danny and I were stuck in a ring of Blood Blossoms. He'd scram like the flowers were trying to kill him, while it had just cased me to wither in slight pain. Now I knew why.

"If she is ever in so much pain that she _will_ die with in 10 minutes, it will return her to the ghost zone, where she will be helped." Desiree went on. "Things like Undergrowth's mind vines, or Wulfs claws will be almost ineffective. Almost."

"You're a life saver!" Dad said with joy as he stared at my charm with awe. "Don't thank me yet. I haven't told you the price that little charm will cost, or the negative affects."

"Negative affects?" Dad asked timidly.

"Ghost powers can and _will_ hurt her. She will grow up to fight them when they cause trouble."

"Wait, hold on a second." Dad interrupted. "How do you know she'll grow up to do that?"

Clockwork stepped forward. "I shall explain that in a moment." He stepped back and sighed, looking at Desiree.

"Now for the price." Desiree smiled wickedly.

My dad gulped, but put on a poker face. "Name it."

The Clockwork from the past sighed. "I can not believe this is the price." He muttered.

Everyone looked at Desiree expectantly. "By excepting your wish," She began calmly. "You will give up your daughters..." She paused for dramatic affect. "Happiness."

"No way." My dad laughed. "Even if that was possible- which it's not- I wouldn't do it." He turned to Clockwork. "Come on Clockwork. Even you must know how mental she sounds."

"Allow me to explain." The past Clockwork said. "There are a few ways today could go. The first: you do not give her the charm."

Dad folded his arms. "Go on."

Clockwork nodded. "With out this charm, she will still learn to control her powers, but it will be difficult. She will grow up, meet a nice man and marry, but she won't ever tell him her secret. Their child will be a full human. But your daughter will always feel unneeded and strange; never feel true happiness as we have."

"And if she does get the charm?"

"There are two ways things could go with the charm. One were you fly off now and don't pay, and one were you do."

Dad shrugged. "What if I run away now? What happens then?"

"Elizabeth will live a life feeling useless. She will have control of her powers, friends- basically live a normal life. But she will not have purpose. However, this is the most pain free option you have. When ghosts attack, it will be in Amity Park- a place she will never hear of."

"Why would ghosts attack?" My dad interrupted. "We might like pranks, but full blown attacks?"

"It is destined for ghosts to attempt to take over the world." Clockwork said passively. "It all starts in Amity Park. There, the half ghost boy Danny Phantom fights to save his city, his state, his world."

"There is another half ghost?"

"Two, actually." Desiree shrugged. "We'll explain later."

" _Anyway,_ " Clockwork frowned. Even then he hated being interrupted. "When both she and the ghost boy are 19, a full blown take over will happen. Every ghost will be lead by the most powerful ghost imaginable. Even I don't know who it is. Elizabeth will summon the courage to fight and protect. However, the ghost army is too much, and after meeting and fighting with the ghost boy, both are struck dead. The world will be over run with ghosts, and that will be the fate of the world."

My dad's eyes were wide.

"Before I ask what the other options are," his voice was shaking. "Explain a few things to me. 1.) How is it possible for there to be another half ghost? 2.) how can a half ghost die?"

"There are actually 3 half ghosts." Clockwork explained. "The only one alive at this moment is Vladimir Masters. Madison Starke and Jack Fenton went to collage with him. In an attempt to make a portal to our world, Vladimir Plasmus was invented. By being caught in the force of inter dimensional experimentation, an evil spirit was released. Vlad himself was not a bad man. However,"

"A ghost spirit taking the host form of a man can alter a humans way of life." My dad guessed. Clockwork nodded.

"The Vlad that is known and loved is gone, buried under layers of anger and ghostly power. Then there is Daniel. He is the child of Maddie and Jack Fenton, they very same people who created Vlad. When Danny is 14, his parents attempt yet again to reach our world. This time, they succeed. But only by the power of Daniel. He is caught, much like Vlad was, in the portal as it breaks through our worlds. However, no spirit changes him. It is the simple over load of ghost energy and ectoplasum that gives him his powers."

My dad nodded. "OK. So how can they die?"

I laughed mentally at the irony. Here was my dad, 16 years ago, as an innocent and not evil person. He asked how ghosts could die when, 14 years later, he is killed. Sad, but true.

"Your daughter, Elizabeth is a half ghost by genetics. She has no choice in whether or not she's a ghost. There will never e a time in her life that she was 100% human. Now, when a human dies, their life forces have to go somewhere. Some people believe in heaven and hell, others in reincarnation, or whatever their religion tells. I'm not sure how the after life works for those people. I don't know everything. But for a select few people, people with talents or obsessions or an old supernatural connection with us, or just because they died, they come here. Their memories of their human lives are erased, and they 'live' as a ghost. They create a new life for themselves. But they 'live' because they had a life force that had to go somewhere. Ghosts _can_ die." This received strange looks from Dad, Desiree, even me!I knew ghosts could _fade_ , but was that the same thing? "If their obsession is no longer a helpful, or even used thing in the human world, they will lose the will to 'live'. Powerful magic can kill a ghost. Anti- ghost materials and such can too. When that happens, the ghost ceases to exist. It.. dissolves I suppose you might say. Most memories disappear, and it was like it never existed in the first place. With nowhere to go, the energy might transfer into a nearby object or person, but with no personality or obsession to 'live' for, the ghost soon becomes subject to it's new host. That either means becoming the mirror it fell into, or becoming the person the overshadowed. If it becomes an object, a small thing may change. It might have a random and unexplainable dent where the ghost had a scar, a revised serial number to match the ghosts death day or once human birthday, maybe even a small carving matching a memory. Or in some cases, the object becomes 'haunted'.By this I mean when people touch it, they get random flashbacks that are from the ghosts life, not theirs. Or perhaps the ghosts face flashes for a second on the surface. But the ghost isn't alive. It's dead as can be." "It's scary that you know all this." Desiree whispered while Clockwork let this sink in. The he went on to explain how a _person_ the power had settled into worked. "This is much more simple. The human the ghost settled into has random flashbacks that belong to the ghost, and may randomly have a few of the same likes the ghost did, when the human doesn't like them at all. Simple."

My dad raised his eye brows. "You know a lot about this."

"He's good at his job." Desiree set a hand on Clockworks shoulder. "Now the final option. You will _loath_ the idea. But in the long run, it is better."

"Nothing can be worse then what I already heard. Hit me with your best shot."

Clockwork sighed. "If you give Elizabeth the charm and pay for it, she will live in a world that is against her. She will feel pain, both physical and emotional, worse that we can even imagine. Her childhood will be hard, but she will quickly learn how to use her powers. She will be strong and silent, but a very sweet little girl, if you get to know her. At the age of 12 she will be forever separated from you and Claire. She will be sent to Amity park were she meets Danny Phantom. Together, they will fight ghosts almost daily."

"Wait a second!" My dad snapped. "Ghosts aren't _that_ aggressive! Sure, we dislike humans, and occasionally we go out to mess with them, but never publicly and NEVER enough to need a hero to fight back!"

"It's part of the price." Desiree said in a singsong voice. I was totally confused now. Every ghost I'd ever met, well most of them anyway, had wanted nothing more then to kill all humanity. Clockwork had even said it would happen! I listened intently as the Clockwork from 16 years back went on. "It is destined for ghosts to attempt a world take over, as I already said. Anyway, Danny will fight. When Liz meets him, they become fast friends. She befriends two other people, Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley, and seems happy enough. But a government agency that is destined to form changes that. After many failed attempts at capturing Danny Phantom and The Star of Amity Park, as Elizabeth is to be called, the are successful. Sam and Tucker betray them, and they are tortured mercilessly. They run away and find help in a city known as Jump, back in California. But they get caught again. By this time, the two are 16 and deeply in love. They turn 17 and then things go bad. Your daughter dies." Clockwork said that like it was the end of everything.

I just.. die. After a few moments pause, my dad asked urgently, "And then what happens? Does she settle into someone, actually live, what? WHAT HAPPENES TO HER!?"

Before anyone from the past could move, my Clockwork froze time.

"This is the moment Elizabeth." He looked at me. "There is more to this conversation. It's obvious which choice your father selects."

"I can... change things?"

Clockwork nodded. "I know what happens. I know everything. But I can't tell you anymore, show you anymore, or reveal anything more to you then I already have."

I looked at him. "So I could grow up feeling useless and live a long life- but never meet Danny. Or, I could live to be 19, and die- but barely know Danny. Or I could keep my life the way it is- with Danny."

"Your thoughts seem to orbit around Daniel. Why is that?"

I laughed. "I've been through so much with him. Me and him- we can face anything together."

"You could save him from pain." Clockwork pointed out.

"Clockwork, when you told my dad about my life choices, you mentioned both Vlad and Danny. You knew what they would do, didn't you?"

"Of course."

"So you know how much I love Danny."

"Yes. But I feel that I must point out the saying 'if you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it was meant to be,'"

"If not," I finished. "Then they weren't yours in the first place." I looked at Clockwork, in his old man form. "Are you saying that Danny was never meant to be mine in the first place?"

"What makes you say that?"

I raised a shoulder. "In every other time line, Danny and I don't know each other."

"I don't recall ever saying _who_ the nice man in option one was."

I pulled my headband off, letting my bangs fall in their rightful place over my face. I ran my nails over the band casually.

"Are you saying that that boy was Danny?"

"I'm saying; make your choice."

I floated down and landed in front of my dad. It hurt to see him like this; alive, nice, willing to do whatever it took to save his daughter. I knew how he died, I knew the biggest weakness he had. I loved him. I kissed him on the cheek, knowing he wouldn't feel it.

"Are you ready?" Clockwork asked.

I nodded. "Don't change a thing, Clockwork. This life is mine, and I wouldn't change it for the world. I won't leave Danny, I won't leave the GIW untouched, I won't leave my fate. If I'm supposed to die, then it was a death that was planned for me _years_ ago. I'm not changing that. If I die, and it's apparent I will, then I will leave a damn good legacy that people will talk about for centuries. This is my life. I'm not running from it. I will _fight_ it. And if I fall fighting, it isn't falling at all. This is what I chose."

The ghost of time smiled and pressed the button on the top of his staff. "You're father would be proud."

The world became a white haze. But I could just make out my dad telling Desiree he would pay her price.

 _Thanks Dad_. I thought. _Thank you for making the right choice_.


	32. Robin who?- Raven

Danny looked ready to punch something. Then again, we all had the same feeling- how could Liz be dying? More importantly, could we save her?

I looked at Robin. Something was _way_ off with him. He _felt_ like Robin, _looked_ and _sounded_ like Robin, yet he didn't _act_ like Robin!

He looked extremely angry that he hadn't convinced us to let Liz die. He looked angry in general.

"We can't let her die." Danny declared.

"Why not?" Robin shrugged. "She's just a girl. There are only millions of others."

"Robin." Cyborg turned towards him slowly. "Can you just _shut up?_ "

"No."

"What is wrong with you man?" BB crossed his arms and glared. "You used to want to help people. Including Danny and Liz. What changed."

"Helping people is lame. Seriously, they can find a way to protect themselves." Robin put his hands on his hips and smirked at Danny. "That goes double for you."

The ghost's eyes flashed neon green for a second- an action that made him look insanely scary.

"We are going to help them." I told Robin.

"No you won't." He replied.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm your leader. And I _demand_ that nothing be done about this."

"Robin!" Starfire walked up to him, tear brimming in her eyes. "You are no leader- and no friend of mine."

The room was shocked into silence. Starfire actually said that? And to _Robin!?_

Before anyone could react, Liz ran into the room. Her face was pale, but she was smiling.

"Hey guys! Oh Danny that cut looks pretty bad!" She grabbed the arm of her confused boyfriend and began dragging him out of the living room. "Let's go and talk and fix it!"

And just like that, they were gone. I heard them laughing as they ran down the hall.

I've never understood crushes. I've never seen any reason to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Basically, I use love as a very generalized term. And yet... Danny and Liz were so happy together. Every couple I'd ever seen on say, Covert affairs or Glee were filled with drama, on again off again situations, and/or teen pregnancy.

As soon as the couple left, my team went back to arguing with Robin about his bad attitude.

No one noticed as I sneaked away to do a little innocent spying on Danny and Liz.

Their bedroom door was closed, so I simple passed through it. I could hear laughter coming from Danny's bathroom.

"Will you hold still!?" Liz giggled.

"It's cold!" Danny whined.

"It's water smart one!"

I inched towards the door.

"Danny... can I ask you something?" Liz asked, almost shyly.

"Of course."

I peeked through a crack in the door. Danny was sitting on his counter, leaning back on the mirror. Liz was standing in front of him, dabbing away the small trickle of blood from his temple. She looked conflicted about something and overly focused on Danny. Danny, on the other hand, was just smiling and watching Liz like he was watching the most amazing thing in the world.

"What if... what if you had the choice. The choice to change things?"

Danny laughed. "Meaning if I could change what we went through? In a heart beat.

Liz bit her lip as if that wasn't the answer she wanted. "But what would you be willing to give up? I don't mean changing small things. Danny, what if I gave you a list of set choices- you couldn't have any 'in the middles' or anything. What would you be willing to change?"

Her boyfriend frowned at that. "Is this like that game we used to play?"

"What game?"

"You know..." Danny paused to smirk as Liz prepared to apply a band aid. "Are you serious?" The band aid had a pattern of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. No one was ever going to let Danny live that down.

"Any way," the ghost boy smiled. "The 'if you could change one thing" game the you, me, Sam, and Tucker used to play. You remember, right?"

Liz grinned, slowly smoothing the TMNT band aid over Danny's cut. "Yeah I remember. But this isn't like that."

"Give me an example then."

"OK..." Liz stepped back and stuffed her hands deep in her jean pockets. "Say you could have had a life where you didn't meet me- but you never got ghost powers and thus never felt that kind of pain. Or you ghost your ghost powers, met me, never got captured by the Guys In White, but you died at a really young age. Or you could have the life you have now. Which would you choose?"

That was an interesting questions. I thought couples discussed their social standings and argued over who loved the other more. I guess TV wasn't the best resource to learn about relationships from.

Danny folded his arms over his chest. "That's a random question. But I guess if I had to pick, I'd keep my life."

"Why?" Liz's voice trembled slightly.

"Well for starters, I couldn't change my life if I wanted too. Second, it would be a really selfish thing to do-"

"Don't be a hero right now Danny." Liz cut him off. "Don't be noble. Just think of yourself."

"I'd still keep my life."

"But _why?_ " Liz threw her hand in the air. "You could have so much less pain, be happy! Why would you keep this stupid life?"

"Because of you."

Liz froze. "W- what?"

"I wouldn't lose you for the world Liz. The great thing about this life- I got to make a difference in the world. I became something amazing- someone to be proud of. I'm not just a kid anymore. And on top of all that, I got to fall in love with my best friend."

Liz smiled and hugged him, Danny sliding off the counter so we could hold her closer.

"Of course, then she stabbed me in the back and turned out to be a GIW agent, so I'm dating you now."

Liz pulled away, laughing. "Ouch! That was both impressively sarcastic and painful."

Danny laughed too. "Sorry, I couldn't help it! You know I love you."

Liz leaned up and kissed him, a smile on her lips. "Prove it." She whispered jokingly.

"Our birthdays are in three weeks."

"How do you do that!" Liz pulled away, smiling. "Do you have that carved into your hand? Is there a calender ghost I don't know about?"

"Nope. I always remember."

"I know. Even when you haven't seen a calender in months, you remember! How?"

"It's kind of hard to forget the day that the most perfect girl in the world was born."

Liz blushed, but smiled. It was weird- when I saw them they were closed off. They would interact with us titans, but they wouldn't be like this.

"Where did this guy come from?" Liz questioned, punching Danny lightly on the shoulder. "When we were 14, your idea of romance was losing your pants, giving a girl an amulet that turned her into a dragon, or a class ring. Where do you come up with this?"

I fought the urge to gag. I was right, couples were gross. And yet, it was nice to see them together. I almost felt envious of Liz. It must have been nice to have a boyfriend who said things like that.

The two probably would have gotten even more lovey dovey, but Danny took a step back and tripped on a towel that had been discarded on the floor. He grabbed Liz's arm, but she was as caught off guard as he was. They both fell back. Liz's hand bit the counter, sending a comb flipping through the air. It hit a shelf of shampoo, conditioner and other tolitries- a shelf that broke, sending the products tumbling to the floor and sink.

One bottle managed to turn the water on full blast, another breaking the fosset. Water sprayed everywhere, drenching everything in sight. All the bottles and containers went rolling, some opening and pouring out their contents, others just rolling.

If it had been me, I probably would have gone into an angry rage, blaming whoever was closest. But Danny and Liz just looked at each other and laughed.

"That was smooth." Liz shook her hair out, water flying in all directions. The broken sink was still spewing like a geyser.

Danny laughed, taking in the sight around him. "This is a mess."

Liz snickered. She and Danny were still on the ground, Danny n his back and Liz on top of him. She sat up slightly and reached above him. One of the many bottles of shampoo had fallen open above her boyfriends head.

"I think it means something."

Danny rolled his eyes. He clearly hadn't yet noticed the mess above him.

"Yeah? Of what?"

"That you might need a shower."

Liz dragged the shampoo into Danny's soaked hair and ruffled his hair, the product beginning to foam.

Danny laughed and grabbed a container of soap, squirting it at his girlfriend.

The fought a little more, splashing water from the puddle on the tile floor at each other, squirting different products into the air, and laughing.

Suddenly, Liz slipped in a puddle of soap and slid into the door. The one I was leaning against. The door fell open, tossing me back, Liz following suit.

"Oh, hi Raven." Danny greeted me awkwardly.

"What are you doing here?" Liz questioned, slightly out of breath from laughter.

"I uh... heard a crash." I looked behind them at Danny's bathroom as if I hadn't seen the mess already. "Yikes. What happened?"

"Long story." Liz dragged her fingers through her wet, stringy hair.

I sighed and used my powers to fix the sink and clean up the mess.

"Nice." Danny grinned at me. When he did, my stomach felt really weird. It was like something was fluttering in my stomach. I ignored it, suggested the two clean themselves up and was about to leave when the other titans came running in.

"What broke?" Cyborg demanded.

"Little late there Cy." Liz flickered her hair out of her face. "Everything's cool now.

"Yeesh." Robin marched up to Danny, pulling that the ghost teen's T- shirt. It clung to him like a second skin, showing how well toned he was. "That is going to take some work to fix."

"What is?" Danny glanced down at himself self consciously. "All I have to do is change and take a shower-"

"Not that." Robin gestured to Danny's face. " _That!_ What are you, 5? I mean, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Are you serious?"

Danny took a menacing step towards bird brain. "Robin, do yourself a favor and stay out of my way."

Robin shrugged and walked out of the room.

"It's going to take some time for you to clean up," Beast Boy commented. "We'll let you-"

Liz snickered. "Try less then a minute Beast Boy. Watch and learn my friend."

She and Danny walked over to their window wall, going ghost as they did.

"Did she just call me her friend?" BB whispered excitedly to no one. "Score!"

I rolled my eyes and watched as Danny and Liz went intangible, launched themselves out the window, and flew at impossible speeds head first into the water.

Everyone ran towards the glass, watching as waves rolled from where the tow had gone in. Small streams of bubbles could be seen as the sped through the water. And suddenly it shot up, being followed by Danny and Liz. They spun a few times in midair before phasing through the window and landing in front of us, huge smiles on their faces.

One would have expected them to be soaking wet, but they'd been flying so fast that they dried themselves off.

"It's going to rain." Liz commented, dragging her fingers through her puffy hair.

Robin glanced at the sky. "There are hardly any clouds."

"Has no one ever told you that a girl is always right?" Danny snapped.

Robin turned on his heel and stalked off, not bothering to answer.

Someone probably would have said more, but just then the alarm sounded.

"Trouble." Starfire whispered. I could tell that all this stuff with Robin was hurting her- she'd only liked him since forever. Then again all those feelings- crushes and like likes and friends with benefits- I think it's all stupid.

Danny and Liz sighed and followed us as we rushed to get to town.

Now, we live in Jump city. City where the villians normally are consistant. Sometimes some die, get banished, or are taken care of once and for all, others come back time and time again. However, it is very, _very_ rare for a new villan to come along. And if that wasn't weird enough- the new guy was robbing a box store.

"BEWARE!" he kept shouting.

"Box ghost?!" Danny laughed. "You have _got_ to be kidding."

The blue ghost looked up- startled. "You're alive! Amazing!"

Liz and Danny glanced at each other. "Last time I checked..." Liz whispered. She shot Danny a look, daring him to correct her. He stayed silent.

"OK box man-" Robin began.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!" The ghost bellowed.

Danny and Liz face-palmed at the same time.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Box ghost went on.

"I am Robin!" Robin put a hand on his hip, a move I had _never_ seen him do. "The boy wonder. And I am here to tell you-" A small card board box covered his head, cutting him off. "HEY!"

"Pfft. Annoying human." Box ghost turned around and began sorting through different varities of bubble wrap as if we weren't even there.

"Uh hi, remember us?" Danny asked, snapping his fingers by Box ghost's head.

"Danny Phantom and The Star of Amity Park," he said absently. "Yeah. I remember."

"If you remember, then you know you how this ends." Liz growled.

The ghost didn't answer her.

"Titans..." Beast Boy glanced around in confusion. "Go?"

We all attacked, _except_ for Liz and Danny. While we doudged and ducked and tried desperatly to beat the ghost, Danny and Liz sat back and laughed.

"You going to help?" Cyborg questioned as he was mummified in bubble wrap.

"You're doing fine." Liz laughed. "This is a great time not to have the thermos."

Half the time, I think Liz is out of her mind.

"HELP US!" Robin demanded.

Liz crossed her arms over her chest. "You're doing just fine."

She said that right as the box ghost compacted me into a box. Needless to say, it pissed me off.

My powers brimming, the box exploded. The box ghost was sent flying. Whimpering, he flew off.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Robin shouted.

Everyone went silent. Danny and Liz looked hurt. "Wring with us?" Danny questioned. "What about _you?_ Ever since-" He stopped, his eyes widening.

Liz caught on, hiding her face with her hands. "We are _so_ stupid."

I looked at them. "What?" None of my other friends seemed to get it either. "Are we missing something?"

Liz looked at Robin, a look mixed with fear and annoyance on her face. "I can't believe we didn't think about it. All this time, and we never _even thought about it_."

"Thought about _what!?_ " Cyborg shouted.

"We thought Vlad was Vlad, right?" Danny asked, circling Robin. "Well, we thought this thing was Robin. But, like Vlad," He blasted a hole through Robin chest.

Every titan gasped and made various concerned comments. Comments that stopped when we looked at what Danny had done.

Instead of blood and various organs being exposed by Danny's ectoplasmic blasts, there was a hole. And the entire thing was covered by sparks. Wires and other electric materials lined the inside of the person I thought was Robin.

Robins face went slack, mixed words that didn't form proper sentances spilling from his mouth. One second he was saying something about cats, then Twilight, then the color orange. It ended when he cried "WE WILL GET YOU!"

Then a beeping sound echoed out and Robin exploded.

"WHAT IS GOING ON!?" BB shouted.

"If I'm right..." Liz frowned sadly. "And that was just a Robin robot,"

Danny finished the stament for her. "Then the real Robin never escaped when you rescued us from the Guys In White."


	33. Unconditional home- Liz

"Never escaped?" Cyborg shook his head. "He was right there with us when we trapped Danny in the shed."

I glanced at my boyfriend. "Trapped in a shed?"

Danny laughed nervously. "I didn't tell you how the titans found us?"

I rolled my eyes. "Little thing called communication Danny." As soon as the snapped out words left my mouth, I regretted it. He wasn't the only one who hadn't been completely honest.

It wasn't that I didn't want to tell Danny about my time journey with Clockwork, I just didn't want to get his hopes up. He jumps at every good solution to a problem- something that doesn't always happen.

"Liz?" BB clapped in front of my face. I realized the me and him were the only too who hadn't escaped the down pour by getting in Cyborg's paint stained seats.

Danny was giving me a concerned look. I couldn't help but notice how over concerned the look was.

God, was he _ever_ going to confess what was wrong with me? Or was he going to let me figure it out on my own?

"Are we just going to leave exploded Robin all over the street?" I questioned, trying to keep my mind off my current thoughts. "It may raise a few questions to see this laying around." I picked up the head of the robot.

BB winced. "I guess we _should_ pick this stuff up."

Raven and Danny stepped out of the car, followed by Starfire and Cyborg.

Danny walked up behind me as I bent to collect screws, scraps of cloth, and other various exploded robot parts.

"How you feeling?" Danny questioned, brushed my shoulder lightly with his.

"Considering I just saw a guy I can't stand explode? Pretty good!"

Danny rolled his eyes, a ghost of a smile crossing his lips. For the first time in a long time, I looked at Danny. Really truly looked at him.

As if I would never see him again.

His hair was soaking wet, plastered to his forehead and neck. Since he was still ghost, it was white. The gray sky reflected off his eyes. His mesmerizing eyes that could melt a chocolate bar. They looked light and innocent- like the ones I first met. It didn't matter if they were green or blue- they were his.

His face had gotten so much color since we found the titans- or they found us rather. He always used to be strong, tough, and distant. Thus, his face looked the same. But now that we started smiling, living, being happy again- his cheeks had color.

I watched as he bet to pick up more robot, watched the muscles in his back move. His arms were shaking slightly- he must have been freezing. His new costume was so hot. His chest was well cut. The white shirt was glued to him by rain, his abs easily seen.

His legs were long. I hadn't realized it, but he was taller then me. I laughed mentally- since I met him I've always been taller. But now, as his white clad legs stretched out to walk, I knew they were longer.

Everything about him was perfect. Everything about him was kind, and brave, and strong. My eyes landed on his face again. The scar above his eye was cute. I knew he hated it, but I loved it.

"What?" Danny asked me just as my gaze settled on his lips. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

I just closed the gap of space between us and kissed him, standing on my toes so he wouldn't have to bend down.

The world melted away as our lips collided. His lips were soft on my, careful as they always were. He kissed me like I was fragile and could shatter under the smallest touch.

I felt the rain drops as they dripped from his bangs, rolled down my face. I didn't want the moment to stop.

But it did.

I didn't notice at first. But suddenly I went stiff in Danny's arms, a piercing pain behind my closed eyes.

"Liz?" Danny grabbed my shoulders, shaking me. It only made the pain worse.

I heard Danny call for help and the sound of titans coming to his aid. No, _my_ aid.

My head hurt- it felt like someone had stabbed a hot poker through my skull.

"Liz!" Danny's worried voice broke through the haze of pain.

Although it was agonizing, I opened my eyes. Somehow, Danny had eased me to the ground, cradling my head in his arms. His eyes searched my frantically.

"Oh my God..." He muttered.

I stared up into the glowing eyes of my boyfriend. I saw his lips form words, but I just couldn't understand. I was very conscious of the fact that I was surrounded by people, but Danny was the only one I paid attention too.

I saw my reflection in his pupils. Instead of the radioactive purple eyes that I should have seen on my face, I saw forest green ones.

My lips parted in shock- my eyes had _never_ mixed personalities before!

The pain in my skull throbbed and I curled into my boyfriend, squeezing my eyes shut. I wanted it to stop. The pain, the stress, the lies.

And then the thought crossed my mind.

Death.

Cyborg said it was going to happen, didn't he? And he was proven right when robot Robin tried to convince everyone to let me die. Cyborg said three weeks. Why not three hours?

What if this was it? The end? The pain sure felt like it could be, I had never felt anything so painful.

Tears stung my eyes. Despite my best efforts, I felt them slip under my closed eyelids. Crying only made my head hurt worse.

I felt Danny stroke my hair, my back, my cheek, everything. Voices surrounded me, concerned and worried voices. Some called my name, others to each other in desperation.

"Liz?" I heard Danny's soft and shaking voice close and quiet. "Liz it's OK. You're going to be OK. Just breath."

I hadn't realized how hard it was to breath. I was shaking, but if it from the cold or the fear, I didn't know. My breaths came short and fast.

"Take a deep breath." I heard Danny say. His voice echoed in my head, bouncing and pounding. Yet at the same time, it relaxed me. Reached the part of me that was always logical, always fighting.

"That's it." My brain must have latched on to Danny for guidance because clearly I was of no help.

"Just keep taking deep breaths." He instructed.

I listened, depending on him to control me, just for the moment.

Eventually, it stopped. The pain faded, the tears ceased, and I was breathing normally.

Slowly, hesitantly, I let my eyes open.

We were still in the street. No cars or pedestrians seemed to be close- the city evidently knew to avoid rain, explosions, and any place the titans had to go in general.

The rain had slowed to a slow trickle. Danny leaning on one hand, carefully running his had over my hair.

His eyes were wide as he watched me sit up. My shoulders and neck felt cold at the sudden absence of his body heat beneath them.

Cyborg was behind Danny, a hand on his shoulder. BB was crouching near my legs, Starfire standing behind him, nervously biting her nails.

Raven was further away from us, sitting cross legged and hovering a few feet above the ground.

"You OK?" Danny asked, his hand on my back. At some point, he must have transformed into his human form because that's who was looking back at me.

"I uh..." I shook the haze from my head. "Yeah. I think." I pushed my hair out of my face. It startled me to see it was brown again. Looking down, I realized that my clothes were normal too. I was human.

"You morphed back about an hour ago." Cyborg told me. "When Danny started talking to you and you seemed to hear him."

I rubbed my eyes with my palms.

"Yeah, I remember- wait!" I stared at my boyfriend. "an _hour!?_ How long have I been out?"

"Two hours" Danny said softly. He crawled over to where I was sitting, wrapping an arm around me.

At first I thought it was just for the sake of holding me, but then I noticed the hidden meaning. He was shivering so hard, his teeth chattered.

"You're freezing!" I exclaimed. I touched his cheek and felt his teeth vibrate under my touch.

He grinned at me. "You just spent two hours in pain, and you're worried about _me?_ "

I nodded. "Two hours in the rain and freezing streets! Why didn't you go inside or something?"

Danny pulled me closer to him. "We didn't want to move you more then we had too. When we moved you out of the street you screamed and started crying harder." BB sighed. "Danny was going to kill us if we hurt you."

I swallowed, leaning into Danny's chest.

"You don't remember, do you?" Danny questioned, running a hand down my back.

I shook my head. "Can we just go home?" I asked. I was tired. More tired then I wanted to admit. I knew it was afternoon, but still.

Danny nodded, turning to Cyborg. Danny stood up slowly, offering me his hand to help me up.

I took it. Soon everyone was seated in the car, no one speaking. No one asking the question I knew we all had.

Was this because I was going to die?

Because we no longer had a Robin in the car, it freed up a single space. However I still opted to sit on Danny's lap. He held me close, his forehead pressed to my neck.

His shivering didn't go away, even when Cyborg cranked the heat way up. Guilt gnawed at my stomach, even though I knew it wasn't my fault.

I just did my best to wring out his drenched clothes and shake the water out of his hair.

He hugged me close as I rubbed his arms.

"You scared me you know?" He whispered quietly. His voice shook from both cold and emotion.

"I'm sorry." It was a stupid thing to say, but I meant it.

Danny just shook his head and leaned back, curling up as much as he could.

"We're almost home." I assured him. His actions were worrying me.

He opened his eyes tiredly. He brushed my bangs out of my face in the same why I've always done to him. "You know how much I love you right?"

I smiled at him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw both Raven and Beast Boy staring at us.

I kissed Danny's cheek, then the other. I moved up to his forehead, and ended on his lips.

"I know."

I curled up to him as best I could to help him stay warm. I closed my eyes for what felt like seconds, and suddenly we were at the tower.

"We're home." Raven said with relief.

The word made me shudder.

_Home._

Before I could point out that this was just a tower to me, Danny stood, lacing his fingers with mine, and leading me to our room. As soon as we were in, with the door closed behind us, He grabbed my by the shoulders.

His lips were on mine fast and furious.

I would have enjoyed it if the boy who I was lip locked with wasn't as cold as ice.

"Take a shower." I demanded.

Danny shook his head. "I want to sleep. I want to hold you and know you're mine and just feel like nothing is wrong."

I looked at the floor. Even though he didn't say it, I knew what he was thinking.

I might be dying.

"I do to." I said. "But seriously, you are ice cold. Take a hot shower and you will feel so much better."

Danny looked at me, a pleading look in his eyes. "Please Liz. I just want to be with you right now."

I smiled, blushing slightly. I grabbed his hand and sat with him on the couch. I turned him so his back was to me.

"What-"

"Trust me." I ran my hand around his shoulders and back, pressing and easing his muscles. He was really tense.

Danny sighed in content as I continued to relax him.

"See?" I laughed. "Take a shower and relax ghost boy," I leaned in close to his ear, smiling cheekily. "Once you're cleaned up, I'll show you how fast I can warm you up."

Danny laughed and after giving me a quick peck on the cheek, left to take a shower.

I followed his example. I let the hot water warm the cold that had surrounded me. After, I went to my closet to slip on some fuzzy PJ pants, and a tank top.

When I emerged back to my room, I could still hear water running from behind Danny's closed bathroom door.

I was slightly disappointed, but it gave me time to set up.

I walked down to the kitchen, where Raven was standing, sipping on a cup of tea.

"Hey. How you feeling?" She asked me.

I shrugged. "Like there's some big secret you all have, and I don't know it."

"Danny would never keep secrets from you." Raven paused. "Well, not for the sake of keeping it secret. He loves you a lot."

I nodded. "I know he does. And, as weird as it sounds, I almost worry that we love each other too much."

Raven cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

I turned and placed a bag of popcorn in the microwave and waited for it to pop.

"Meaning, I would gladly take a bullet for him. Even knowing how bad it hurts, I would. I would do anything to keep him safe. But we would too. All we want to do is protect each other, even if it means getting hurt in the process."

Raven and I both jumped as the first kernel popped.

"But isn't that a good thing?" She asked. "I mean, that's a deep love right there."

"But we hurt each other by doing that!" I protested. "He gets hurt to protect me, and I get eaten alive by guilt. I do something to save him, and it kills him on the inside."

Raven sighed. "Look Liz, I don't know much about love. Nothing about it actually. But I know that whatever you and Danny have, whether it's love or something else- it's special. I've read about relationships. I've seen them on TV. You and Danny, there are no two people more perfect for each other. And you may do things that hurt each other, but you do things to save each other too! He loves you so much that the thought of anything happening to you hurts him. And I know it does the same for you. I don't know what you'd call that, but I call it love."

For a moment, we were both silent. "I see why Beast Boy like you." I said, shattering the silence.

The comment seemed to startle her. "Why?"

"You're smart. And fun to be around. And seriously, you are really pretty." Raven blushed and looked away.

I turned away and began to fix two cups of hot chocolate.

"You think I'm fun to be around?" Raven asked, just as I was about to go back to my room. I nodded.

"Yeah!"

Raven didn't look convinced. "Tell you what," I brushed my hair out of my face. "Tomorrow, I know Cyborg and Danny are going to be playing with the Robin robot. Why don't you, me, and maybe Starfire hang out? Do girly stuff?"

"I'm not very good at girly." Raven admitted. "Or hanging out. Or being fun. Or being nice."

I smiled. "Good. I have a feeling we'll get along _great!_ "

With that final statement, I walked back to my room. The sound of running water was gone, but Danny wasn't making an appearance yet. He must have been changing, or brushing his teeth or something.

I sat on the couch and placed the coco and bowl of popcorn in front of me on the coffee table.

I turned on the TV, an already started movie playing.

I smiled, seeing that it was my favorite Disney film: Beauty and the beast.

I settled back and began to munch on the popcorn. Soon, Danny joined me.

He was in black sweat pants and a long sleeved navy blue shirt.

"Better?" I questioned.

He nodded. He sat next to me, stretching an arm over my shoulder. For a while we sat and watched. I groaned as a commercial come on, just before the big waltz scene.

The commercial was of a real estate agent asking about buying your first home, as opposed to a house.

"Did it bother you when Cyborg said that?" Danny asked.

"When he said what?"

"When we got here and he said 'we're home'."

I nodded. "Yeah, it did. He made it sound like this was..."

"Permanent?"

"Exactly." I leaned on Danny's shoulder, looking into his eyes. "And I can't help but feel... that it's not. When I was younger, I figured that I'd grow up and find that place- that one place that was just _perfect_. The place-"

"The place where you feel safe?" Danny guessed. I smiled and nodded. "I know. In 4th grade I had to write a paper on what home meant to me."

"What'd you write?"

He grinned. "It was 4th grade!"

"So you don't remember?"

"I didn't say that. I remember the gist of it. Basically, home was a place where you were safe. If the day was hard, you could go home and let it all fade away. Home was the place of love, care, freedom. And pizza."

I giggled. "pizza?"

"I was a 4th grade boy!"

"To me, home is where you belong."

Danny sighed. "I guess that disqualifies us then. We're half ghost, there isn't really any place that we belong."

I nodded. "I guess you could say we belong to each other."

I crawled over him, so I was straddling his hips. I leaned down to kiss him, a kiss that was a hot and slow and perfect.

A low groan of content came from the back of Danny's throat. He ran his hands up my back, his fingers sliding under the hem of my shirt.

He leaned back in perfect synchrony, so I was on the cushions and he was over me.

I ran my hands under his shirt and over his chest, feeling every muscle. I felt his heart hammering in his chest.

He kissed me and I kissed him back. One of his hands got lost in my hair, the other kept running over my back. His hand fit the curve of my hips perfectly. Everything about us fit together perfectly.

Raven was right, we had been made for each other.

My hand ran lower, down his hips and to the waist of his sweat pants. There was about 6 inches of space between us. It was too much space. He seemed so far away, it hurt.

I pulled him closer to me, our chest's pressed together. Danny's skin was hot under the warm clothes he had on.

I almost growled. He felt so perfect. In that moment, I wanted nothing to separate us from each other.

I kissed him again and he groaned, pulling me so close I could barely breath. Not that it had been easy to breath before.

My hand ran low on his hips. I felt a patch of uneven skin and frowned. In the back of my mind I wondered what it was, but I was to focused on my boyfriend to think about it.

Danny however, gasped and pulled away slightly. It dawned on me that I had just found his GIW scar.

"I'm sorry." I panted.

He shook his head. "I belong to them. To you, to me, and to them." His voice shook.

I touched his shoulder. "Wrong. You belong to you and _me._ Danny, I love you, and you can only belong to those who love you. The Guys In White don't love you."

"But they branded me." Danny argued. "As much as I try to forget it, I'm theirs. And I... I can't hide it or forget it or deny it or-"

I put my finger over his mouth to silence him.

"You are not theirs. OK, so there's a reminder of them that can't be erased. There are memories that are emotionally scaring. Denying it? Danny, every second you spend away from them, you deny them."

Danny didn't say anything.

I kissed him softly on the cheek. "I belong to you Danny." I whispered. "You don't have to share me. It's totally not fair if I have to share you with a group of idiots in white suites."

Danny laughed and looked at me with a love I'd never seen before in his eyes. He looked like he was about to say something, but just then, the movie came back on. It began to play the waltz scene, Tale as Old as Time being sung my Mrs. Pots.

Danny stood, offering me his hand. Confused, I took it. He took he in his arms, and we danced.

Maybe you can't call it dancing. Maybe most people would call it swaying to the beat in a way the vaguely resembled the way Belle and Beast were. But to me, it was magical. I gazed into Danny's eyes.

"Thank you." He whispered in my ear, even though there was no one else to hear us.

"For what?"

"For loving me. For letting me love you. For being mine."

"Your what?" I whispered, loving the fact that he called me his to begin with.

"For being mine- forever."

I looked into Danny's eyes and smiled. "Thank you for being mine."

He grinned. "Your what?" He copied my earlier words.

I pressed my lips to his for a second. "For being my home- forever."


	34. Girls day in- Raven

"You don't seem very concerned about Robin." Soon after Liz left, Beast boy entered the kitchen, announcing his presence with annoyance.

"Why should I be?" I asked. "He's Robin. If something was wrong, I'd be able to tell."

"You couldn't tell when he was replaced by a robot!" BB shot back. "What makes you think you could tell if something is wrong?"

I cocked an eyebrow at my youngest team mate. At first, all he did was glare back at me. However, the anger slowly melted from his eyes and he sighed.

"Sorry." He muttered, leaning on the counter.

I shrugged. "I am a little worried. I mean, you're right. We've had an imposter for who knows how long. What do you think they were after?"

"Danny and Liz." Cyborg stated, walking in. "I was checking out the memory drive, making sure it didn't hack our systems." He paused folding his arms over his chest. "They were monitoring them with tech even _I_ haven't seen."

"That is both concerning and insanely stalkerish. "

Cyborg nodded at me. "I know."

For a moment, we all stood there in silence.

"Why do you think the Guys In White are so bent on killing Danny and Liz?" BB suddenly piped up.

"Danny and Liz are half ghost. The GIW are professional ghost killers. Do the math." I snapped.

BB shook his head. "I know that but... I mean even given all the good the two did, they convinced the entire planet that ghosts were evil. Do you even wonder if... well..."

"If Danny and Liz are playing us?" Cyborg guessed.

Beast Boy nodded.

I shook my head. "I don't think they are. They aren't like Terra. Anyone can tell how scared they are."

My friends sighed tiredly. It had been a long day, fist exploding our leader, and then Liz blacking out.

"Is Liz going to be OK?" Beast boy voiced all out thoughts.

No one said a word. "Right," the green teen said softly. "Just checking."

"Cy, do you think you can save her?" I asked, setting my tea down.

Cyborg dragged a hand over his face. "I can't answer that. I don't know what is wrong with her, so I don't know how to fix it-"

"But you _will_ figure out how to fix it, right?"

The kitchen was once again silent.

"I'm going to bed." Cyborg suddenly announced, walking out the door before anyone could stop him.

"You worried about Liz?" I questioned BB.

He nodded. "And Robin. And Terra. And the world. So yeah, must be Tuesday."

"It's Friday."

"Shut up." He grinned at me.

I sighed. Seeing that the conversation was done, Beast boy walked out of the room- probably to his room so he could sleep.

I, on the other hand, walked over t the window wall to stare out at the city lights. The past few months had been so hectic- it wasn't even funny. Never had I dreamed that Danny Phantom and the star of Amity Park would show up at my doorstep... or at the opposite end of my snowball actually. I had always assumed that the two were evil little ghosts' bent on killing us all.

I thought back to all the articles I'd read- all the people who thought they were heroes and others who thought them to be monsters. Then again, that's how all superheroes are.

Loved by some, hated by others.

And while I had to ghostly heroes under my roof, I also had two regular teenagers, who had an amazing amount of rotten luck.

Danny Fenton and Elizabeth Masters were still missed, which was what made it so much more heart breaking. Their friends and family who knew their secret hated them enough to want to kill them. Those who didn't know missed them dearly.

And Danny and Liz wanted nothing more then to block all of those people out of their lives.

They have such messed up lives.

Who knew? Maybe they were playing us. The truth was, even if they were, I wouldn't care. Danny and Liz only wanted to feel safe and wanted and loved. It was honestly a miracle that they were able to live with us, fight in public with us, and love each other.

Maybe ghost immunity made them stronger in more ways then one.

Robin was the next thing to cross my mind.

How had we not noticed he was gone? And even then, Liz and Danny had noticed before he had. Was Robin OK? Alive even? And if he was, what were the GIW doing to him? What did they want with him in the first place?

I rubbed my temples. _Way_ to many questions.

With that, I walked to my room to sleep.

"Friends this is most joyous!" Starfire exclaimed happily. At the moment, she was in my room with me and Liz. We were doing each others hair.

I had only agreed to such a girly thing because Liz was the one doing my hair. Starfire was doing hers and I was attempting to braid the red locks of my alien friend.

"I told you this wouldn't be so bad." Liz whispered in my ear.

We had music (not gothic or screamo, as I would have like, but Lorde isn't so bad. Who knew?) blaring through my speakers.

"You can't see it," I said sarcastically, "But I'm rolling my eyes."

Liz just laughed.

"Have you even engaged in over makes of this sort with other friends?" Star asked Liz.

The ghost girl scoffed. "Yes and No. For the first 12 years of my life, my best friends were Jessica and Derek. Jessica was a drama queen with an amazing sense of style. Derek was the boy who we could talk into doing anything."

"What about when you met Sam, Tucker, and Danny?" I asked.

Liz's fingers ran through my hair, smoothing it for whatever creation she had in mind. "Sam and I would sometimes have sleepovers where we would do goth makeovers, but that's as close as I got. I guess when... when I moved I had to grow out of girly stuff like this."

"Is this not what elder girls do as well?" asked Starfire, confused.

"It is..." Liz paused, as if thinking about how she wanted to finish her sentence. "I guess I just had to sacrifice this kind of stuff. Ghost fighting, high school, and being captured doesn't leave much time for fun."

I thought about that. I had my own reasons for not doing girly stuff, but it wasn't because I felt like I couldn't. I had the time, I had the friends, I could do this everyday if I wanted. I had taken Star's offers as granted...

"What is it like?" Starfire asked. I could always count on her to break awkward silences. "To be the girlfriend of friend Danny?"

Liz ran a comb through my hair. None of us were allowed to see ourselves until we were 100% done with everything. And by everything, I mean makeup, clothes, and hair.

I need to remember how good Starfire is at pouting next time I want to say no to her.

"It's perfect." Liz said. "OK Raven," she went on. "I think your hair is done."

"You, too, are done friend Liz!"

I nodded to show Star I was done messing with her hair.

When I saw Liz, it was nearly impossible to hide my laughter. Starfire had done her hair straight up, so it resembled the hair of Marge Simpson.

Judging by the confused expression on Liz's face, she didn't know how bad her hair looked. Then again, none of us knew how we looked.

"K, clothes." Liz opened my closet to find a million outfits identical to the one I was wearing.

" _Love_ the individuality..." She muttered to herself.

"I told you, I'm not into stuff like this."

Liz moved her hand as if brushing aside a fly.

"It's cool. Whoever designed my closet went WAY over board. I have everyone's costume in every color of the rainbow. C'mon, let's go."

The fist thing I noticed when we got to the room Liz shared with Danny was the shirt next to the unmade bed. A shirt that was clearly Danny's.

I bit my tongue to keep my question unvoiced- what did they do when they slept together? I mean, they may be 16, but still.

The show is called "16 and pregnant" for a reason.

I also didn't want to say that I had been the one who fixed up Liz's closet. I had only gone so over board because I know nothing of fashion, what goes with what, or how much Liz liked to mix colors.

I knew she liked personalizing her clothes though. Today, she had a black spaghetti strap on under an orange crop top, in which she had carved the words "Camp Half Blood". She had cut off jeans and hidden heels on with it. Before Starfire had made Liz's hair into the third largest skyscraper, it had been in a low side pony tail.

And Liz didn't think she had style.

"OK, let loose." Liz smiled at us, opening the door to her closet. "Just don't let anyone see what you pick.

I looked at the room with wide eyes. I had only ever seen Starfire in the clothes she wore everyday- what was I supposed to choose.

I suddenly realized how stupid this all was. I was a super hero. I fought criminals for a living. And instead of doing patrols, or training, or trying to find Robin, I was thinking about what I should pick out for Starfire to where.

"Raven?"

I turned to see Liz looking at me with concern. "I know you think this is stupid."

"It's not-"

"You aren't girly." Liz cut me off. "I get it. I know you feel guilty about Robin. But all the guys are checking out the remains of the robot, getting as much information as they can. As annoying as it is, you can't do anything more until they find something."

"How do you know that?" I snapped in a hushed voice. I didn't want Starfire to know we were arguing. Since we figured out Robin was gone, she had been a little... off. Girls' day in was the closest she'd been to herself.

Liz dropped her gaze. "I just know. Now, if it helps, I think an aqua blue would be pretty with Starfire's hair."

She spun on her heel and marched off to find a new outfit for me.

I walked to the blue section of Liz's closet. I found a loose and long racer back tank top with a pink peace sign on the chest for Star. It looked like it might possibly be aqua blue.

With that, I selected a pink skirt the same shade as the peace sign. Star would seriously look like a hippie when I was done with her, especially with the way I did her hair.

"Ready?" Liz called.

Starfire raced out and grabbed a blanket to conceal her outfit for Liz. I simply covered mine with my cloak. Liz had hers behind her back.

We changed one at a time, keeping out eyes closed so as not to ruin the surprise of seeing ourselves for the first time.

And let me say, I was surprised.

Liz had given my hair a wind teased look without making it look messy. My shirt was a white crop top with a black bird shadow on it. A bird with it's arms wide open. My legs were covered (for once) by pre ripped black skinny jeans. Instead of the slipper/boot things I normally had, my feet were in black, strappy, open-toed heels.

I actually looked... pretty.

I wasn't sure what to think of Starfire. Star, of course, thought she looked gorgeous. Then again, she did. She always does.

The only things I had to think about were her shoes and her hair. Doing her hair had been fun. I had taken the top back of her hair and braided it, leaving the rest of it to hang down. At the last second (when I remembered 'outfit' included shoes) I had grabbed a pair of white go-go boots.

Yes, when I made Liz's closet, I put a pair of those in there. Do not judge me (I know you are), I have no idea what I was thinking.

Liz... there are no words. And not in a good way.

Her hair was so tall, it added a foot or so to her height. And on top of that, Star had used enough hairspray so that not only was every hair in place, but the locks couldn't move _at all._ Liz gave her reflection a pained grin.

Her shirt was baby pink, with cupcake sleeves and ruffles at the hem. Star had paired it with spring green caprices and black ballet flats.

"I..." Liz began. I braced myself for the criticism that she was about to give Starfire. "I love it!" Liz gave Star a genuine smile and hugged her.

She pulled out her T- communicator and made us all pose for multiple selfies. I actually smiled in a few of them.

We were going to take more when an alarm began to wail. My blood turned to ice when I realized that it wasn't an attack alarm.

It was the alarm that signaled someone trying to hack our systems.

Without another word (or picture) we raced to the infirmary- the boys had deemed it the best place to dissect a robot.

" _What_ is going on!?" Danny was shouting as we reached the room.

He turned when we came in. "What in God's name-"

Liz held up a hand. " _So_ not the time."

"Someone's hacking the video phone!" Cyborg said.

Everyone stared at him as he pressed a button on the wall and a screen slowly descended from the ceiling.

"So we're going to answer the creepy people who are trying to hack out phone?" BB questioned.

Cy shrugged. "It beats them figuring out how to access it their way."

He pressed the answer button.

As we waited for the call to connect, I heard Danny and Liz talking quietly. Danny questioned her outfit and hair while Liz inquired if any progress had been made with the robot.

The call connected, and Danny and Liz had to stifle their screams.

Smiling cruelly into the camera, with a tied up and gagged Robin behind him was K from the Guys in White.

"Hello Titans," he began. "I have a proposition for you."


	35. A silent sceam- Danny

I stared into the soulless black lenses of K's shades. Fear gripped my every nerve.

"Robin..." Starfire breathed.

Beast Boy turned into a tiger and snarled at the screen.

"What could you _possibly_ want from us?" Raven snapped.

"It's not what I want. It's what _you_ want." K smirked and gestured to Robin.

I stared at him, expecting to see scars and bruises and other signs of torture. But I saw none. He didn't look hurt, or terrified, or broken- he didn't even look like he'd been denied any meals. The only difference from his normal apperance was that his mask was gone.

My sky blue eyes locked with his sapphire ones. His lips looked like they were moving behind his gag, but I couldn't make sense of it.

"You see," K explained. I swear, he was staring right at me. "I have someone you want, and you have someone that I want. All I purpose is a simple trade, Robin for Daniel."

My chest tightened.

"No way man." Cyborg snapped. "We'd never hand over Danny _or_ Liz!"

"Who said anything about Elizabeth?"

Liz cocked her head to the side, looking at he from the corner of her eye. "Haven't seen you in a while K," she deadpanned, somehow keeping the terrified quiver out of her voice.

"I know." He responded. "Last I saw you, you were bleeding out on my floor. Now it appears you've become Marge Simpson."

"And you think you're the son of God, sent down to earth to save the world from the unholy beings knows as me and Danny. Seems we're both having an identity crisis."

K laughed- actually tossed back his head and laughed. "Takes more then a bullet to silence your smart mouth huh?"

"Please. Nothing can shut me up." She folded her arms over her pink T-shirt. "I would, however, _love_ to know what it takes to shut you up."

"Give me Daniel, and we can discuss it over a friendly cup of tea."

Liz snickered. "Give us the Bird Brain, and I might take you up on that offer."

"Lier."

"You caught me. I planned on poisoning your drink. I don't think a Care bear could be friendly around you."

"I'm not friendly. I prefer to be called 'misunderstood'. It tends to get pity out of most people."

"And I prefer to keep my video calls private." Cy scoffed. "Guess we're both out of luck."

"Give us our friend!" Starfire demanded, her green eyes blazing.

K rolled his eyes. "Seriously, what is the kid even worth to you?"

Liz slipped her hand into mine. I clung to it to keep myself from the sick feeling in my stomach. If I paid to much attention to it, I would either vomit, black out, or both.

"What's he worth to you?" Raven shot back.

"Let's make a deal," BB growled, changing into his human form. "You give us our leader back, we keep our new friends, and I will find the will power to restrain myself from _personally_ clawing your eyes out."

"For the love of God!" K sighed in exasperation. "I _just want Daniel!_ Keep Liz as long as you want, she has two weeks to live. Three, tops."

My eyes widened. "W- what?" K looked at me. "Oh please Daniel. You knew it. You all did, you just didn't tell her. But then, she knew too."

All eyes turned to Liz, who had turned sheet white.

"Admit it Elizabeth," K smirked and Robin began to struggle in his chair, trying to get untied. "You can _feel_ death coming. That heavy feeling in your bones that threatens to drag you down every second. The steady pain and weakness that grows stronger every day. You, my dear, are _dying._ And the best part is," he paused to laugh manically. "You can do _nothing_ but sit back and let the darkness swallow you."

My girlfriend's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Lier." She said quietly. "I... You could never- I'm not-"

"You _are!_ " K said triumphantly. "We did it. We found a way to kill the powerful Star of Amity Park." He said her name in the most mocking way possible. What he said next struck a blow so hard, Liz actually stumbled back as if she'd been punched. "Just like we did with your dear old dad."

"Lay off!" I yelled, wrapping a protective arm around Liz, who truly looked ready to cry. Seeing the vulnerability on her face was shocking enough to snap me out of my fear induced shut down. "I'm going to go running back to you K. But let me make something clear- talk to my girlfriend like that again, and I will not hesitate to blast a hole straight through your chest."

"Getting a little violent, are we? It's a simple trade."

Suddenly, Robin was able to shake his gag off. "Don't do it guys! They haven't hurt me, I can escape! Keep Danny and Liz sa-" K silenced him but putting the barrel of a gun between his lips.

Robin closed his teeth around the weapon and shook his head like a dog, sending the gun flying, and K chasing after it.

"Fetch." The boy wonder smirked.

"Robin!" Star suddenly flew towards the screen, as if she intended to fly through the glass and right into her crushes arms.

"Whoa." Robins blue eyes widened at the sight of her clothes. "That's a new look. Listen, guys, you _have_ to get me out of here! They have all this intell on Danny, Liz, the ghost zone, and some guy named Robert." His words were rushed. K was coming back. "Anyway, it's the same place we rescued Danny and Liz from but you have to get here before April 4th. But do not, I repeat, do NOT try to get here until April 1st. You understand that?"

"Wait, Robin, why?" Beast Boy asked, confused.

"No time!" Robin snapped. "You have to trust me on this!"

Everyone nodded. His mouth parted as if he were going to say more, but K came back.

"You have until March 30th to make a choice." He snapped, his glaces askew and a firm hand over Robin's mouth. And just like that, the screen went black.

I felt strangely detached from my body- barely there as I sat down hard on the floor, Liz in my arms. It was hard to swallow, to breath, to be alive.

"Robert..." Liz whispered. "Dad. I... I haven't even thought..."

"You're going to be OK." Raven knelt by my side, a hand on my shoulder. There was a look in her eyes that I had _never_ thought possible from her- compassion. "We won't let them get you, Liz won't die, and we will get Robin back."

"I wish we could believe you." I whispered.

Raven suddenly seemed to realize she was expressing emotions, because she recoiled from us like we were poisonous snakes.

Slowly, I came back to reality. Starfire was silently sobbing in the corner, hugging her knees to her chest. Beast Boy and Cyborg were sitting in stunned silence, just looking at each other. Raven had retreated to the colorful wall, and was gazing at the paint splatters; looking like if she could just look hard enough, the walls would solve our problems.

Mentally, I begged for someone to make a sound- anything would work. A loud sniffle from Star, an indifferent grunt from Liz, even the clack of a computer key. But no one broke the silence.

I hate silence. Without sound there is nothing to distract you from you're thoughts, nothing to keep you from spiraling into a bottomless pit of depression. I looked at Liz for help, but she was just staring blankly out the window wall, as if all the life had been drained from her.

No one jumped when the alarm began to wail. No one said a word as we piled into the car driving off to the city.

Dr. Light did all of the talking when we arrived. There was no banter, there was no witty remarks.

It was if the world had lost it's ability to make sound and had been bleached of color. Everyone moved as if in a trance.

I was able to see Dr. Light's lips move, detect the sarcasm he must have been using due to the cockiness of his expression.

At first, we just stood there. Dr. Light was in the middle of our circle, holding what must have been a million dollar diamond necklace.

The afternoon sun glinted and sparkled off the jewels, but there was no beauty in it.

Cyborg, Beast boy, and Raven watched the necklace as Dr. Light used it as he gestured.

Starfire was turned away, constantly wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

Liz and I just stood there. There was an empty feeling all around me, like I had been removed from my skin, and now there was just an empty shell left. The remains of the person I once was.

Dr. Light was becoming confused (and freaked out) that we were just standing there.

As he tried to run, Raven blasted him back. He flew towards Starfire, who hit him with her eye beams. The Dr rocketed to Cyborg, who slammed him to BB. A green octopus stood where BB had moments ago, and juggled the thief with his many arms.

Liz and I stood and watched. There should have been screams, or shouts; sirens or something.

Nothing.

Everyone wore an emotionless mask as Dr. Light was tossed around like a ball. No one seemed to want to stop, but then again, Light didn't give us any reason to.

He kept getting up and trying to run.

His feet made no sound on the ground. His mouth released no sounds.

The titans kept the Dr away from us for as long as they could. I almost wish they hadn't. The conversation with K ran though my mind on a contentious loop. The way he demanded I get handed over to my death, the cruel things he said to Liz, the banter the two had shared. The desperation on Robin's face as he explained to us what to do. And mostly, the victorious look on the agents face as he told Liz she was dying.

Was it true? No. It couldn't be. But I still had the question: if it was true, could I save my girlfriend?

Had she known all along? If she had, how was it possible for her o keep it hidden so well?

The eerie soundlessness of the world went on as Starfire got hit into a wall, and failed to get back up.

When Liz and I went ghost, no remarks were made on her look of pain.

As Beast Boy was hit, and fell to his knees, no one made a sound.

Flashes of light came from my hands, but I made no conscious decision to fire my powers.

Not a word was uttered when Cyborg slipped on a patch of ice I'd made, and simply lay there, blasting away from the ground.

Helpless looks were the only thing Liz got when she tried to launch a ball of fire at her opponent, just to have it die in her palm. It seemed ironic really- her fire was going out, much like her life was.

Much like our hope was.

When Raven used her powers to lift cars and smash them on Dr. Light, no crash reached my ears.

All anyone did was stare as Liz attempted to go intangible, only to have her skin become a camouflaged pattern of skin and invisible patches.

When the Dr crumbled into an exhausted heap in front of Liz, no one argued when all she did was turn human, gingerly take the necklace from his grasp, and shove him into the arms of a concerned police officer.

No radio played on the drive back. Everyone was left to stare at the sunset with sad eyes and confused hearts- his or her thoughts their only companion.

Once at the tower, we all began to dissect the robot- with everyone but me and Cyborg actually taking it apart. The robot and I were seated at the computer, logging in the data and trying to use it to hack into the GIW mainframe.

The robot was actually pretty amazing. The main skeleton was like a stick figure body- but was one of the most high tech pieces of machinery I'd ever seen.

And that's coming from the ex- best friend of a total computer geek.

Then, the skeleton was coated with layers alternating between a material that resembled human flesh, and wires, hard drives, and computer chips.

One by one, people began to leave without a word.

First Starfire, then Raven, Liz, and Beast Boy.

My eyes remained locked on the computer screen late into the night. I was aware of the rain storm only from the light caused by lightning.

My last thought as I feel asleep in front of the computer was how there really is no such thing as silence.

Because even silence has it's scream.


	36. It's not fair- Liz

Normally, I love music. When Cyborg gave me an Ipod (which Beast Boy had personally stocked with some admittedly good songs) I had almost wanted to cry.

But then again, I only like music when it helps.

This was not one of those times.

I was laying on my back on my bed, headphones over my ears, the volume cranked to almost as high as it could go. My hair was still up and I was still in the girly outfit Starfire had given me. Truthfully I didn't are. K's words kept going through my mind.

_Two weeks._

No. _No._ Yeah, I might have known it was coming, but to have someone confirm it? And that person be the sick minded agent K? I shuddered.

And then there was Robin. I had left when it was being taken apart. Just looking at it made me feel sick. The robot was proof that the Guys In White weren't as stupid as Danny and I claimed they were. As bad as it was- the group was actually quite brilliant.

Which meant my death announcement had a higher likely hood of being true, as opposed to being wishful thinking.

_**Pain without love, pain, I can't get enough. Pain, I like it rough, 'cause I'd rather feel pain then nothing at all-** _

I flipped to the next song.

_**What doesn't kill you makes you stronger-** _

Lord. _Next!_

_**If you want to get out alive oh, run for your li-** _

The song was cut off when I ripped my ear buds out of the device and chucked it across the room. I truly wanted to scream. Instead, I stood and rammed m forehead into the window wall of my room.

_This can not be happening, this can not be happening, please, don't let this be happening._

Yet it was.

I stared out the window, holding back tears. On a normal night, the view of the sleeping city was beautiful- all building shadows and city lights. Tonight, however, the view was blocked by black clouds. Thunder clouds to be exact.

My eyes followed a flash of lighting as it zigzagged across the sky, momentarily lighting up the thrashing water that surrounded the tower.

Maybe it would be OK. OK to just let death take me. I mean, there really wasn't anything left for me anyway. Past- worthless. Present? Not really that great- I was still being hunted. And the future? Well... even if I wasn't dying there would be nothing for me. Family, career, house, anything. The GIW took that away from me.

_Danny._

His name came to mind as another lighting bolt streaked across the sky.

To be honest, he was the only reason I was here. The only reason I didn't let go when I flat lined at the GIW HQ. Because of him- my amazing, strong, brave boyfriend. If I were to pull through this, it would be for no one other than him. He had been through much, had to grow up to fast, had delt with too much pain to have this happen to him.

A window rattling clap of thunder echoed though my room. And rain began to pour. Not just strongly- I literally could not see out of my window.

_God, I'm crazy._

And maybe I was. Maybe it was crazy, and stupid to go to the roof. But I didn't care. I just wanted to get out of my room- out of confined spaces. As much as I wanted to, I avoided the infirmary. If I saw Danny, I might start crying.

Or I might start screaming.

You never know with a teenage girl.

The roof was slick with rain- the wind whipping around me, rain instantly soaking me to the bone. It was painfully cold.

And it felt good.

The icy coldness, the biting winds, the sound of thunder, lighting and rain. The entire thing sent adrenaline running through my veins.

My hair fell in my face. I took one step and slipped- landing on my back.

And I laughed.

It was just so _funny!_ I mean, all my life- _my whole freakin' life-_ I had been scared of being part ghost. My dad warned me people would abuse my power if they found out. My mom treated me like I was a monster. And when the guys in white came and ruined my life, I still couldn't escape my real self.

And then I met not one, but _two_ other half ghosts. One becoming my best friend (and later my boyfriend) and one being my adoptive father. And I felt _needed._ I was able to do what my father had always wanted me to do- use my powers for good.

Then he came back. My dad came back and his mind had been twisted- corrupted and tortured and changed by the guys In White, until all that was left of the man I loved was a man who loved me, and wanted me by his side as he burned the world to the ground. So I helped end him.

All I had ever done was fight for the right things- stood up to bullies at school, stood up to my mom when she got mean, fought back ghost after ghost as I saved the city with Danny by my side. And yet, here I was, fighting for possibly the most important thing in the world...

… And I wanted to give up.

Why did _I_ need to be the one who fought? Why did _I_ have to be the hero; the selfless girl who saved everyone?

Everyone but herself.

My hand closed around the star charm at my throat. _That_ was why.

All this was because my dad just _had_ to be scared for me. Because he just _had_ to pick this life for me.

I laughed again.

I had picked this life too. It had been both the most selfish and selfless thing I had ever done! And I still would not change it.

The cord of my necklace snapped as I ripped it off my neck. It felt weird and satisfying at the same time. For as long as I could remember I had never taken the choker off. The cord had never snapped, the charm had never fallen. It had always been at my throat, a constant reminder of my true self.

And I was _sick of it._

Yet not matter how hard I tried, I couldn't launch it over the side of the building like I wanted too. It stayed cradled in my palm, winking at me with every flash of lightning.

Spiking it to the ground, I began to cry.

It just _was not fair._

It wasn't fair that I had ghost powers. It wasn't fair my life was the way it was. It wasn't fair that someone else had decided how my life would end. It wasn't fair that I would have to leave Danny.

I was soaked from the rain- the rain that just kept coming. And I didn't care. I just stayed on my knees in the middle of the roof, raindrops and tears colliding as they raced down my cheeks.

And I went ghost.

Or at least, I thought I did.

Nothing about my ghost form looked different from my human form. When I tried to use my powers, nothing happened.

I sobbed again.

The Star of Amity park was gone. Which Meant Elizabeth Marie O' Conner was not too far behind.

I stayed out there for a few more hours- trying in vain attempt to get my powers- any of them- to work.

No fire, no electricity, no ghost rays. No anything. All it did was drain me.

At some point, I went back inside. By the looks of everyone's doors, no one else was awake.

I expected Danny to be in bed when I walked into my room, but I found depressingly empty.

I shrugged- he was most likely still trying to hack the robot with Cyborg. Danny might not have an education above 9th grade, but between being best friends with the biggest geek in school and dreams of being an astronaut, he was pretty darn smart.

Still dripping wet, I walked over to my bathroom and turned the shower on. All I wanted right now was a hot shower- maybe get the hair products out of my locks. If Danny wasn't in bed by then, I'd go and get him.

I nearly fell asleep in the shower. I was just so tired and so sore and the water just felt so good...

The only reason I got out at all was because my eyes found the digital clock on the wall and saw that it was 4 in the morning.

I didn't bother drying my hair, I just shook it out. As opposed to my normal PJ's I grabbed one of Danny's. The smelled like him, and I felt safe in the oversized shirt. Then, slipping on a pair of fuzzy PJ pants, I went to go see if my boyfriend was still awake.

The infirmary looked like it had been taken out of a horror film. Rain still hit the windows, but at a much calmer pace then it had before. The lights were turned off, but there was still light coming from the computer screens, and the Robin robot.

The blank eyes of the machine stared at me in the most unnerving way. It was on the desk between my boyfriend and Cyborg.

Cyborg was leaning back in his chair, eyes closed. Danny's head was on the keyboard, pages and pages of gibberish rolling across the screen.

If I was being selfish, I would have woken him up. But he had been so stressed lately, and looked so peaceful as he slept there- I just couldn't do it. Instead, I settled for draping a thin blanket over his shoulder, and went back to my room.

It was little past 4:30 when sleep finally claimed me. Unfortunately, one very concerning thought crossed my mind as I floated off to sleep.

I had never put my necklace back on.


	37. Nightmares- Danny

_A young boy- about 7 years old- curled into his older sister's arms, tears running down his cheeks._

_"Danny, Danny shh." The sister cooed, running her hand over her little brothers hair._

_"b- but Jazz!" The little boy sobbed. "They're scaring me."_

_Jazz looked behind her, at her closed bedroom door. From beyond it, the siblings parents could be heard shouting at a blaring television screen. Evidently, talk of shutting down the government funded ghost association was being discussed, and Maddie and Jack Fenton were not pleased._

_"They don't know what they're talking about Danny. I promise, it will be OK."_

_"B... but they sound mad..."_

_Jazz sighed, holding her little brother closer. "I know. They're just annoyed because when they applied to work there, they got rejected. I promise little brother, they'll get over this soon."_

_Danny looked up at his sister with big, tear rimmed, sky blue eyes. "Why do mommy and daddy hate ghosts so much?" He questioned._

_Jazz smiled at her brothers innocence. She herself was only 9- she didn't have all the answers..._ _**yet.** _ _But one thing was for sure- her parents unhealthy obsession with ghosts was driving her younger brother insane. She would do anything to keep him away from all that insanity._

_"I don't know Danny." she answered slowly._

_"Well," Danny yawned. "I think ghosts are kind of cool."_

_Jazz smiled as her little brother curled up on her lap, his eyes closing as sleep came to him. Suddenly he sat upright, gripping Jazz's arm tightly._

_"What if_ _**I** _ _become a ghost?" The little boy yelped. "Will mommy and daddy hate me?!"_

_"What?" Jazz laughed at the imagination Danny had. "No. It's impossible for you to become a-"_

_"But what if I did?" Danny interrupted. "What if I became a ghost? Mommy and daddy would hate me and they would hurt me and be angry at me. They would lock me in the basement with all the sharp things I'm not supposed to touch. And then they would rip me apart momocool by momocool!"_

_"First of all, the word in molecule. And second, even if that happened- which it_ _**won't** _ _\- I would never let mom and dad hurt you."_

_"Promise?" Danny questioned as he put his head back in his sisters lap._

_"Promise." Jazz repeated._

_"Pinky swear?" Danny held out his little finger, his eyes slowly closing._

_Jazz smiled and warped her own finger around her brothers. "Pinky swear."_

_Jazz rubbed slow circles on her sleeping brothers back, thinking about what she had just swore. "I promise Danny," She said, knowing the child couldn't hear her. "No matter what, I will_ _**always** _ _be here for you, and I will always protect you. No matter what happens, I will always love you."_

_**( next part in nightmare)** "You're kidding... right?" Tucker asked a black haired boy. A group of three friends were gathered at the back of their high school, under the bleachers. _

_The boy shook his head no. "Go ahead." He said sadly. "Call me a freak. Sic my parents on me. I'm all ready a loser around here, now I can be a monster on top of that."_

_"Danny," A girl in all black set a hand on his shoulder. "We've been best friends since second grade. We're used to your parents craziness. This... this thing that happened to you is, in a way, no worse then that."_

_Danny looked at her from behind his bangs. "Really?"_

_"Really." Tucker agreed. "Dude, you have super powers now! Why would we_ _**not** _ _want to stick around for that?"_

_Danny smiled._

_"But I'm assuming that this means that what happened in your dads lab yesterday_ _**wasn't** _ _a joke?" The goth girl questioned._

_"Sorry Sam," Danny answered as they begin to walk into school. "That was real."_

_"Don't apologize to us," Tucker laughed. "We feel sorry for you, having to fight off creeps like that."_

_Sam nodded. "Especially with these noodle arms!"_

_The three laughed as Sam shook Danny's arm._

_"Thanks guys." Danny said, meaning his words. "Maybe this won't be such a bad thing after all!"_

_"Are you going to tell anyone else?" Tucker asked as they climbed the stairs._

_Danny's mood immediately went back to bad. "No."_

_"Yeah Tucker, are you crazy?" Sam questioned. "Parents don't listen, and even worse, they don't understand." She paused to stamp a foot on the ground. "WHY CAN'T THEY JUST EXCEPT ME FOR WHO I AM!?"_

_Tucker and Danny stared at her. "Sam..." Danny began slowly. "I'm talking about me. You know, and my problems?"_

_"Oh..." Sam blushed. "Uh... me too!"_

_Danny rolled his eyes. "And I'm_ _**not** _ _telling anybody about this. Word gets out and I go from geek to freak."_

_"Kinda like what you're doing now?" Tucker asked as his best friend began to sink through the floor._

_Danny yelped as his friends dove to pull him back up._

" _You need to eat more Danny." Sam commented. "You weigh like, nothing."_

_Danny ignored her. His gaze had locked onto something at the end of the hallway._

_Tucker and Sam followed his gaze._

_"Whoa." Tucker breathed. "_ _**Who** _ _is_ _**that** _ _?"_

_Sam shrugged. "I don't know. But you might what to stop drooling Tuck."_

_No one listened to her. The two boys were to busy watching as a girl with short brown hair, a purple crop top, and navy blue jeans was lead into the principals office._

_"Guys, she's a new student." Sam snapped, crossing her arms. "Quick looking at her like she's a goddess. Besides, judging by her looks, she's just another Paulina."_

_But Sam was wrong. Because from that day forward, the new girl wasn't just another pretty face. She became the fourth person in their little group of friends, the towns new sweetheart, and the team mate of Danny Phantom._

_Because she wasn't just an ordinary girl._

_She was Elizabeth Masters._

_**( next part in nightmare)** "_ _GUYS!" Sam shouted. It was almost 10 O'clock at night, and she and her friends were still out on the streets. Well, she and Tucker were anyways. Danny and Liz were technically_ _**above** _ _it._

_What were they doing up there? Well currently, they were fighting for their afterlives._

_"Gah!" Danny yelped as the ghost he was fighting sent him crashing into a wall. The ghost boy fell to the ground, unmoving._

_"Danny!" Tucker raced over to his best friend, who was attempting to get back up._

_Liz turned and practically growled at her opponent. "You are going to regret that Skulker."_

_Skulker laughed. "I think not child. My upgrades leave you powerless before me."_

_The ghost swung his arm like a baseball bat, sending Liz into the same wall as Danny._

_This was admittedly one of the hardest fights they'd had yet. Skulker had given himself some serious upgrades, and Danny and Liz were getting beat up. Even now it was obvious that they were fighting to stay in their ghost forms- or conscious for that matter._

_"You guys need to stop!" Sam insisted, taking in the battered, bleeding, and bruised forms of her friends._

_Danny brushed his sweat covered bangs out of his face. "No." He rasped, before clearing his throat. He looked at Liz, who nodded._

_"There's one more thing we can try." The girl panted._

_Ignoring the pleads from their friends to stay down and surrender, the ghost fighting team got up._

_Danny took a deep breath and Liz spread her fingers wide._

_Sam realized all too late what was happening. "Stop!" She shrieked. But it was too late._

_Flying into the air, Danny let loose a ghostly wail, which Liz used her lighting power to electrify. With a cruel laugh, skulker bounced the attack back. With a terrifying thud, Danny and Liz were pounded into the asphalt. Cracks spread out around the ground they'd landed on. The street was illuminated as they two reverted back to their human forms._

_Skulker laughed and took off._

" _No!" Tucker whimpered._

_Danny and Liz weren't moving. At all._

" _Tucker, call an ambulance!" Sam ordered, rushing over to her unconscious friends._

_"What are you going to do?" Tucker questioned, pulling his phone out and punching in the digits for 911 and cradling Liz in his lap._

_"I'm calling the Fentons." Sam declared, whipping out her cell. "It's time they know the truth."_

**( next part in nightmare)** " _You- Liz your..._ _ **what is going on!?**_ _" Danny shouted at the scene layed out before him. Sam and Tucker were behind him. Derek and Jessica were in front of him, walking towards Liz, mouths hanging open._

_"Liz... you look like..." Jessica stuttered._

_"Like you used too..." Derek finished for her._

_Liz was looking at them with a pained expression on her face. "I... I can explain?"_

_Actually, she couldn't. She herself didn't really understand. This entire experience was surreal- like a dream. Or a nightmare- either way she wished she would wake up._ _This had happened two days ago._

_Liz had been flying outside the Specter speeder with Danny at her side. Jessica, Same, Derek, and Tucker were all inside the vehicle, chatting it up about some big math test or something. Danny and Liz were a bit occupied pondering the recent ghost attacks they had faced- one nearly costing them both their lives, and their secret. It had been then that Clockwork had chosen to explain to them how ghosts' can die, and just what he thought would happen to them, come the day they pass._

_Danny was just saying how it seemed like the entire ghost zone seemed to be under 'new management' when Liz felt lightheaded._

_"You feel OK Liz?" Danny asked, immediately concerned. Deep down, it made Liz happy that Danny cared for her like that. Maybe he wasn't Derek- but maybe that was a good thing. Danny was cute and sensitive and..._

_… And spinning. Everything was spinning._

_Danny caught her and held her up as she felt herself fall forward. Danny himself was concerned. On top of all the new ghost attacks, stress at school, and parental pressure Liz had been acting off lately. He couldn't bear the thought of her being hurt and not telling him about it. The teen ghost frowned down at the girl in his arms, and was suddenly very aware of how close they were._

_Was it hot in the ghost zone, or was it just him? And_ _**why** _ _was his uniform so tight?_

_"I'm fine..." Liz said, a little absently. "I'm just kinda off today. Maybe I should sit?"_

_Derek gulped as his girlfriends request came through the Fenton Phones. The boy immediately smacked himself mentally. Liz was_ _**not** _ _his girlfriend- at least not anymore. She had made that very clear the first day he had come to her town, kissed her on the lips in her school hallway, and got judo flipped over her shoulder. She hadn't exactly broken up with him, but the way she acted around Danny and Tucker made it very clear that she was keeping her options open._

_Sam snapped her fingers under Derek's nose. He had that 'L_ _iz Land' look on his face again._

_"Is she hurt?" Tucker was frantically screaming into his Fenton Phone microphone._

_"No." Danny replied, giving Tucker a glace that said_ _**shut up, I'm trying to figure out what's wrong!** _

_"Is she sick?"_

_"Tucker..."_

_"This could be a side effect from your ghost fighting!"_

_"Tucker..."_

_"If she's hurt we have to take care of her ourselves, if she'd sick-"_

_"Tucker!" Danny tried in vain to get his best friend to shut up. Everyone was too concerned to notice the dark form of a ghost sneaking up behind them._

_"- then we're kinda screwed because we don't know what wrong with her and we can't take her to a normal doctor for that because then they might take blood. And if they take blood, or if they take too many vitals or something then they might realize she's different- not that that's a bad thing Liz- but if they find something concerning, they might want to do tests. And if they find something ghost like about her they might contact the Guys In White. And if that happens-"_

_"_ _TUCKER!" Everyone screamed at the geek._

_The teen paused and blinked at his friends in confusion. "What?"_

_"Tuck," Liz began, her breathing heavier then normal. "I'm fin I jest feel a little- MMPH!"_

_Just like that, the shadow of a ghost appeared, snatched Liz from Danny's grip, and zipped away._

_Now, here the group stood. Their friend, who they thought had been kidnapped, was standing next to the man in a throne, looking completely different, and watching them with apologetic eyes._

_"I would love to hear your explanation, Lizzie." The ghost on the red velvet throne said with a smirk. His presence reminded Danny strongly of Vlad, older, more powerful, and not afraid to hurt a kid._

_The ghost looked almost human, save his red eyes. His hair was pitch black, and slicked back in the front. His jumpsuit matched Danny's in a way, same basic design. The collar was triangle shaped, and where Danny's was black and white, this man's was red and black._

_And then there was Liz. She looked... almost exactly like the man. Her normally short hair was long- almost reaching her waist. And it was black. It swung between her shoulder blades in a high pony tail. A sparkling red diamond tiara was on her head. Liz's bangs were split, so they fell over both sides of her face._

_"Are you.. in a_ _**dress?** _ _" Tucker asked._

_Liz bit her lip and nodded. She was in a red mini dress, black fishnet stockings, red high heeled boots, her make up (yes. Liz was wearing_ _**makeup!)** _ _was done in the same way- red lipstick, black eye shadow._

_Danny couldn't help but think how pretty (and deadly) she looked._

_"What do they mean, 'you look like you used to'?" Sam snapped, crossing her arms._

_"Is he the ghost that kidnapped you?" Danny asked. "Why are you acting all buddy- buddy with him?"_

_"Guys..." Liz said slowly. "This... This is my dad."_

**(next part in nightmare)** " _You want to do this Elizabeth?" Clockwork questioned. The girl huffed and crossed her arms._

_"If you are asking me if I want to kill my dad then no, I do_ _**not!** _ _" She sighed, and lowered her arms. "But if you are asking if I will distract him and let you guys... end him, then yes. I'm willing to do that."_

_Derek stepped forward and put his arm around Liz. She didn't lean into him, but she didn't push him away either. Jealously welled in Tuckers chest._

_"You shouldn't have to do this!" Danny snapped, slapping his palms down on the table in front of him._

_"You were so close to him." Jessica said quietly. "He was so awesome when we were kids..."_

_At that, Liz pulled away. "_ _Well guess what? He's not that person anymore. The Guys In White twisted his mind, tortured him and ruined him. In a_ _way, I guess we'll just be putting him out of his misery..."_

_"Liz... I'm sorry." Sam said. "I wish there was something-"_

_"Sam... just don't." Liz turned away from her friends, if for no other reason then to hide the tears that were threatening to spill down her cheeks. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking over her shoulder, she saw it was Danny._

_Slowly, Danny turned her around and hugged her close, her face buried in the curve of his neck. She had never been this close to Danny for a reason like this, and it sent butterflies to her stomach._

_"I'm so sorry Liz. If this happens to anyone, it shouldn't happen to you. I wish there was something- anything- that I could do to make this not hurt you! I wish-"_

_Liz shut him up by giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Blush rushed to Danny's cheeks, but he didn't move away, or act as if it was weird._

_"Thanks, Danny." Liz said, finally returning the hug. It felt comforting to wrap her arms around her best friends strong torso, it felt right._

_"Thanks... everyone." Liz pulled away and dragged a hand over her face._

" _No problem." Derek said, a little tightly. Seeing Liz kiss another guy bugged him... a lot. But Liz had looked happy- gah. Being a teenage guy was confusing. Here he was, planning the best way to kill a guy he had known since the first grade, and he was thinking about girls._

_"Do I get a kiss too?" Tucker asked hopefully._

_"Not from me." Liz laughed halfheartedly._

_Tucker glanced around the room. Liz locked eyes with Jessica. It was no secret to the girls that Jessica had a major crush on the geek boy. If she was going to make a move, now would be the perfect time._

_Jessica noticed Liz and Sam staring at her,_ _daring her to confess her feelings. Jessie shrugged, catching the attention of Tucker. "What the heck?" Jessica laughed as if it were no big deal. "If we might die doing this, why not?" She marched up to tucker, her brown and blue pony tail flowing behind her._ _She closed her hands into fists, hopefully to hide the shaking._

_Tucker was watching her from behind his glasses, confused. God, his eyes were so beautiful._

_"Tucker Matthew Foley," Tuckers lips parted as she said his middle name. "I have had a huge crush on you since you showed me how to play 'Angry Pigeons' on your phone. And if we plan on dying to kill Liz's dad today," Jessica ignored the flinch from her best girl friend. "And if that's the case, I don't want to die without doing this first."_

_With no further introduction, Jessie tilted her chin up and kissed Tucker right on his cute mouth._

_"I.. did_ _**not** _ _see that one coming..." Danny whispered._

_"We did." Sam and Liz said in unison, fist bumping._

_And at that very moment, Robert O' Conner broke the clock tower._

_**(next part in nightmare)** The day Jacob brought James and Star into _ _the cafe she worked at was the day her life changed- yet again- for the worst. She thought she had been safe. Why did this happen to her?_

_"Hey Sam," Jacob was greeting her. Sam couldn't pay attention. Her eyes were locked on the two kids Jacob had brought in the cafe with him._

_'James' and 'Star' her butt. She knew those kids- they were in the papers and on the news all the time. She snapped out of it as Jacob left her with the kids._

_Sam truly didn't pay attention to anything she said to them._

_**Don't reveal anything, don't mess up.** _

_However, when Sam saw the unmarked White van pull up in the ally outside the cafe, she new she was screwed._

_Epically._

_And yet, she was not the only one. Her boyfriend was in trouble now too, and So were Da- er- James and Star. She had to do something- anything!- to help them._

_Sam smiled as she remembered just what town she was in. It might not have two ghosts watching over it it, but it had_ _**plenty** _ _of super powers on it's side._

_She had to hurry though. Soon she would be off shift, and then she was sure to disappear from Jump._

_"Have you heard of the teen titans?" She questioned the couple (were they a couple- or just friends? She hoped for the former, they were so cute together!)._

_"No..."_

_And things just fell into place after that. The titans actually showed up for James and Star to witness._ _So when she did get in the back of the van, white clad men with dark shades surrounding her, planning her new identity, she didn't feel mad. She wasn't even scared this time. Because she had just helped. It was nothing to make up for what she had done in her past, the two years of suffering the kids had gone through._

_But they were alive. And Sam had just made a difference in their other wise miserable lives._

_Let the men place her in Antarctica for all she cared- it would have to be colder then that to get ride of the pleasant warmth inside of her._

_Because she had freaking helped._

_**(next part in nightmare)** "I'm going to kill you Danny." Sam said sweetly, scalpel in hand, black hair swishing behind her. "Slowly, painfully. And then you will be put in your place. Your body will but studied until the day it rots away completely. And even then, every second of it's existence will be documented. And the best part is, your so distressed, you won't remember this conversation." Sam twirled the sharp object in her hand, ignoring the poor boys sobbing._

_"Hurts, doesn't it? Knowing she's dead." Sam leaned down to meet Danny's shattered blue eyes. "But she's not." Sam's voice was a soft whisper. "She's not dead, not yet. Letting her die so easily wouldn't be any fun at all, now would it? Besides, I don't think she's done with me- or you- yet. Are you a couple yet? Because you sure act like it... Then again you always were clueless. But I need to leave a little reminder of me with you Danny. You keep saying I scared you for life, yet I only see marks on Liz. I wonder how much she could love a piece of Guys In White property."_

_And with that, the knife and stabbed into the sobbing boys flesh, making him scream even more. When it was all over, Sam pulled her hand back, patches of blood on her hand. "Can't forget me now." She sung over her shoulder as she sashayed out of the room. All she had left behind were three letters. But those three letters would prove to be life ruining. Carved into Danny Fenton's hip were the three letters:_

_G- I- W_

"Hey Danny, bro. Wake up dude, you're just having a nightmare!"

My eyes snapped open to see Cyborg leaning over me, concern written all over his face. "You OK?" He asked. "You were screaming and thrashing in your sleep."

"Fine, just a bad dream." I yawned, cracking my neck. My shoulders were stiff, and my cheek hurt from where I had fallen asleep on it. I was about to ask Cyborg what time it was, when Liz ran past the door, then back-tracked.

"You OK?" She asked.

I nodded, then took in her appearance. Her hair was frizzy and knotted, dark circles were under her eyes, and her shirt was falling off her shoulders. Actually...

"Is that my shirt?"

Before she had time to answer, I noticed how fidgety she was. "Where were you going?" I questioned.

"Roof. Don't question it, just come on!"

And with that, I went running after my girl friend, my hip burning, and the creepy dream shaking my hands.

Yup, must have been Thursday.


	38. 1 week away- Liz

Something was wrong with my boyfriend. I mean, it wasn't like the fact that I heard him screaming from the other side of the building was any indication or anything. As we ran behind me, he limped slightly, as if his leg was bothering him.

"Why are we going to the roof again?" He questioned. His voice was shaking.

I stopped running for a second to look at him. I has out of breath, but I had a good reason for it. When I had woken up, my side had been burning and I had almost thrown up. Danny however, was panting and didn't really have the same excuse as I did.

"Do you want me to share about my night first, or do you want get it over with?"

Danny sighed, rubbing his neck. "I just had some really messed up nightmares, ok?"

"Like what? Were they the nightmare nightmares or the holy crap I had totally forgotten about that nightmares?"

My boyfriend looked at me with tired eyes. "Do we have to talk about this now?"

I smiled. "We can wait until we're on the roof."

with that, I took off again, desperate to find my necklace and put it back on. My neck felt oddly naked without it. A few steps away from the roof door, Danny slowed down and stopped, kneeling on the floor.

"You ok?" I questioned, immediately rushing to his side.

"Yeah," he winced, him palm on his hip. "It just burns, that's all." Suddenly his eyes got very wide. "holy crap- you're necklace! It's _gone!_ "

"Which brings us to the reason we are running to the roof. And it also brings fourth a short story of my night."

Danny laughed as I helped him stand. "Guess we both get to tell stories."

As soon as we opened the door to the roof, I began scanning for my necklace. When I hadn't spotted it in about 10 seconds, I began to worry.

"God, where is it where is it?"

"Found it!" Danny hollered, jogging over to me, the charm in his hand.

As soon as the soft, cool metal was back in my palm, relief flooded through me. "Omigod Danny thank you thank you THANK YOU!"

Danny shrugged modestly as I kissed his cheek. "Hey, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't find things like this?"

"Can you fasten it for me?" I asked, handing the necklace back to him.

"Uh... sure..." he trailed off, searching the cord for a clasp of some sort. "How?"

"It was never supposed to some off, I guess you'll just have to tie it or something."

Danny did as I asked, and soon we were walking back to our room. Once there, we both flopped down backwards on our bed.

"So, nightmares huh? Spill." I flipped onto my stomach.

Danny groaned and dragged m hand over his eyes. "OK so it started with a memory- I think. I was a little kid and crying because my om and dad were screaming and ranting about ghosts. Jazz was there and she swore to always love me and protect me from my parents toxic ghost obsession. Guess that didn't work. Then I remembered the day I told Sam and Tucker about what was wrong with me- the ghost powers I mean. That was the same day I met you by the way. Then I remembered that one fight we had that landed us in the hospital because Skulker used our powers against us. Man, I'm glad we destroyed that suit." He laughed, his arm covering his eyes still. "Sam and Tucker seemed so concerned about us then- like they actually cared. I guess it was just a trick to expose us."

"Jeez! Then what happened?" The poor guy had some serous issues with nightmares- we both did.

"Then I remembered when we saw you with your dad- Robert I mean. How he kidnapped you, and how you reacted when we got there. I also remembered us making the battle plan to end him... That was when it got strange."

"You call the rest of it normal?"

"It was like a movie or something- do you remember Sam?"

"Kinda hard to forget that goth little bi-"

Danny covered my mouth with his hand. "Don't finish that sentence. Heroes don't swear, remember?"

"All I was going to say was goth little biological life form."

"Sure you were. Anyway, I was talking about the Sam that gave us food when Jacob took us to that cafe."

It took me a second to remember what we was talking about. "The day before we came up with the snow ghost joke?"

Danny's laugh told me I had remembered correctly."Yeah. Well it was like a story being told from her perspective. She was all hung up on helping us and making sure she didn't 'revel anything' or something like that. And when she got in that truck, she was all happy and sad at the same time. The last one was the worst."

"What was it?" My hand slid into his.

"I actually _remembered_ what had happened when Sam- the evil one- cut me. Or.. branded me- however you want to say it. Can we just leave it at that?"

Just as I was bout to tell him was ok and that it was just a dream, sirens began to wail.

"I take it we're being called..." I muttered.

We ran into the hall to meet the others.

"It's Dr. Light," Raven panted.

"Please halt my friends!" Starfire waved her arms and jumped around to grab our attention. "We must be cautious with the absence of Robin-"

"I'm working on a plan to get him back Star," Cyborg said impatiently. "Just give me a few-"

"And in light of that," Starfire ignored Cy. "Would it not be safer for friend Liz to stay home?"

Everyone turned to look at me. "Wait, what! No!" I protested. If I couldn't fight then I couldn't do anything. Yet at the same time, I was tired, I _didn't_ have my powers, and after my little episode last night, maybe fighting was a bad idea.

"By... herself?" Danny said slowly. I couldn't help but notice how he didn't argue that I was well enough to come.

"I can stay with her!" Beast boy volunteered. "I hate fighting the doc- besides," he grinned and wriggled his eye brows at me. "I'm sure Liz and I will have fun while you guys are out!"

Danny stepped in front of me protectively. "What kinda fun you planning on having?"

BB's eyes got very wide. "Uh, ya know. Video games, listenin' to music.." Danny narrowed his eyes. "Uh.. scrabble." Beast boy said in a high voice. "Fun times!"

Danny turned to look at me, his back to Beast boy. "You ok with that?"

"Oh yeah!" I faked a smile. "Scrabble's my game!"

Danny leaned down and kissed me. "Don't have too much fun," he joked, his mouth still close to mine. "Remember, you still owe me the story of your night when I get back."

"Just got kick some butt, k ghost boy?"

"I always do!" Danny grinned and jogged backwards down the hall while the rest of the team sped off to save the day, and leave BB and I to our scrabble.

"So..." Beast boy said half an hour later as we sat in his messy room. A song by Pink was blaring our of his four foot tall speakers. I turned them down so I could hear him. "You and Danny have a birthday coming up?"

"We don't share the same birthday Beast Boy, they're just close."

"Who's older?"

"I am. By two days."

"Ha," Beast boy smiled. "Nice! So what _is_ your birthday?"

"Mine is April first, Danny's is the third."

"Dude!" BB cried, sitting forward and grinning wildly. "That is so awesome! You were born on April Fools day? SWEEEEET! It's like, you could pull all the pranks you want on other people! And, like, they couldn't do anything back because it's like, you're birthday and stuff and pranking someone on their B- day is so not cool."

I thought back too all the jokes that had been pulled on me on my birthday. "I can think of quite a few people who think otherwise."

"Yeah," BB laughed again. "It wouldn't stop me either."

This time, I laughed with him. "That's because you're Beast Boy! When you want to prank somebody or do something stupid, I'm pretty sure nothing could possibly stand in your way."

"True, very very true."

I noticed something glittering under a pile of dirty socks. Before Beast boy could stop me, I moved them away to see a heart shaped box hidden beneath the.

"I never took you as the jewelry type.." I said, picking the box up. It really was pretty- well crafted, with just enough room for the jewels to go.

"I'm not." He grumbled as he took it from me. "I made it for Terra, the night she betrayed us."

"You... _made_ that!?"

"Uh.. yeah." A blush crept up to his cheeks. "I kinda have a hobby of making stuff with metal. Boxes, jewelery- for others, not me- all kinds of stuff!"

"Beast boy, you are _really_ talented!" I exclaimed. "I don't see stuff that high quality in stores- I can't believe you can do that!" Suddenly, an idea struck me. "Omigod, Beast Boy... do you think you can help me with something?"

"Of course- whats up?"

"I haven't had a chance to get something for Danny yet, do you think you could help me make something?"

Beast boy looked uncertain. "I dunno... I mean, the other titans don't really know I do this and I'm really _not_ that good-"

" _Yes_ you are!" I paused. "How about I'll make you a deal- you help me with this, and I will show you one _Hell_ of a good time in my bedroom before Danny gets home."

"W-what kind of fun are you talking about?"

My grin was mischievous. "You'll just have to wait and see. Now, here's what I'm thinking..." As I explained my idea to Beast Boy and let him show me all his metal working tools, one thought kept crossing my mind: This present for Danny had better be freaking amazing, because it was likely to be the last he ever got from me.

After all, April third was only a week away.


	39. Busted- Danny

I stood outside my bedroom door- too scared to actually open it and see what was on the other side.

The titans and I had returned about and hour ago- after three hours of fighting some guy named Doctor Light. He was basically a hybrid of box ghost, Techness, and a human. II would have thought we'd be able to take him down sooner- evidently it was Robin who normally took him down.

So we finally got him in the back of a cop car and were on our way home. I had hurried up to my room to hear Liz's story about the night before. When the door was closed, I didn't care. When it looked like the lights were dim, it barely bothered me.

It was the noises coming from the other side of the door that had had me frozen in place for almost thirty minutes.

Bed springs creaked loudly and constantly. Music was playing softly- however it was rock music, with a lively beat and a loud bass. And Liz. She was laughing, a lot.

"Wow Liz!" Beast Boy said, laughter in his voice. "I had no idea you had this... _side_ to you!"

"There are lot's of things you don't know about me!" Liz giggled back.

"Girl, you got a naughty side to you!"

"I don't count this as 'naughty'."

Beast boy paused for a moment. "Why are we doing this behind Danny's back? I mean what if he finds out!?"

"Why are you concerned?"

"Liz, if he saw us doing this," They both sounded out of breath. "I would be the next topping on Cy's meat lovers pizza."

"We are only doing this without him because he would never let me do it _with_ him! If I'm going to die, I want to go out with a bang, ya know?"

"Is this the bang you want to go out on?"

There was no more talking after that. Just laughing, gasps, panting, and bed spring groans.

God _what_ were they doing in there! It had _better_ be scrabble, or BB wasn't kidding about Cy's pizza.

I was about to simply walk in and find out what they were doing, when I heard a zipper, and the sound of fabric sliding on fabric.

Suddenly- "Oh. Ouch. God Beast Boy, can you _please_ be a little more gentle next time?"

"I'm sorry!" He squeaked. "It didn't break, did it?"

Liz giggled. "No. It's too big and hard for that."

That was it. With no other way to announce my presence, I simply threw the door open. I have to admit, I was _not_ prepared for what I saw.

"Oh. Hi Danny!" Liz said, as if nothing was wrong.

My jaw hit the floor.

"Tell me this isn't what it looks like." I begged, closing my eyes. I opened them again to see that, unfortunately, it was.

"It's uh... not what it looks like?" Beast boy said quietly from where he was kneeling on the bed.

"Get out." I looked at the little green teen. "Get out _right now."_ I watched as the kid scurried out of the room.

"Danny!" Liz said disapprovingly. She got up off the coffee table where she had been laying. "That was harsh."

I didn't answer. All I said was "You too are in _so_ much trouble."

She smirked. "OK _dad._ Ground me- send me to my room if you want- that's basically all I can do now anyway."

"I can not believe you would do that with someone other then me!"

Liz sighed and unzipped her jacket- the sound of the zipper very familiar.

"OK, ok. I'm sorry! But you wouldn't do it with me!"

"Because I didn't want you to get hurt!"

"Don't get mad! Beside, Beast Boy didn't hurt me."

I rolled my eyes. "Tell that to the dent in the coffee table."

"Why is this such an issue?"

"Are you _kidding_ me!? You went behind my back to do this- were you even going to tell me?"

Liz crossed her arms over her chest. "It's kinda hard to hide it."

"You were going to try though, weren't you?"

"No, actually. I wasn't. I figured that once you saw I didn't care if you thought it was a bad idea and I was going to do it anyways, you might join in."

"Uh, I kinda don't want you to get hurt. So you were wrong there."

"Danny!" Liz snapped, raising her voice to match mine. "Can you _please_ explain to me why you're so pissed off that Beast Boy and I made a freaking fort?"

I looked around the room. "Ok, let's take a look at the big picture here. Every single pillow, mattress, blanket, soft thing in general from the whole tower is right there." I pointed to the pyramid that had been constructed around my bed- the mattresses looking like bricks. "This room is trashed with empty pizza boxes, chip bags, and other wrappers and stuff. Oh, and _where_ did you get that outfit?!"

Liz looked down at what she was wearing. "It's one of your old uniforms." She said quietly. "Beast Boy and I got board and I promised him I'd show him some fun. So we just played a game. We built the mattress tower and filled the center with pillows and stuff. I put on your old uniform for fun. You told me you wouldn't build something like this with me because you were scared I would get hurt while bouncing."

She looked up at me with soft and apologetic green eyes.

"I just wanted to play the game again!"

"You played Damsel in Distress with BB? Liz, I thought that was _our_ game. And now you were letting Beast Boy rescue you?"

Liz smiled slightly. "No. Danny Phantom was _always_ the hero- I was saving Beast boy."

That would explain why he ran out of the room in a skirt...

Before I could apologize for over reacting, Liz went on. "If I'm going to die in the next seven days Danny, I wanted to feel like a hero just on more time."

"Stop." I demanded. "Stop saying that! Stop saying you're going to die, ok? Because you won't. Not this week, not next week, not for a long long time!"

"Danny, I don't think you understand,"

"I understand that you're giving up!" I cut her off. "And that's not something that my girlfriend does. She doesn't give up on an algebra test, she doesn't give up when fighting a ghost, she doesn't give up on her friends, and she _never ever ever_ gives up on herself."

"Danny," She sounded slightly annoyed.

I took her hand in mine instead of letting her finish. "When is it going to get across to you that I won't let you go?"

"Stop acting like it's your choice!" She yelled.

Liz never yelled at me.

"Let's get real Danny," She said angrily. "Do I _look_ like a girl my age should?"

The truth was, she really didn't. She had always been skinny, but now it was like she had never eaten anything in her life. Her face was hollow, her eyes lost. Liz's hair was dull and lifeless- it had long since lost it's normal shine. She didn't look like a healthy teenager should- she looked... well...

"I look dead, don't I?" She voiced my thoughts exactly. "D-E-A-D _dead_ Danny. I am hopeless, I am weak, and I am dying."

"Are you listening to yourself?" I yelled back. "You of all people know that there is ALWAYS hope!"

"That's a _lie_ Danny!" She was mad now. "Hope is some mythical, made up word that was invented to help children sleep at night. Hope is what they tell people when a war happens, when they realize a family went broke, or when someone got themselves in the hospital. And ya know, maybe other people can have hope. Maybe _other_ people can sit there and 'hope for the best' of simply have hope that things will get better. But how can we do that Danny? How can we 'hope for the best' when even the 'best' is hopeless?" She laughed sarcastically. "There is no best to hope for! Not for us anyway!"

"Really? Liz, you can't say that! Think about your past- did you hope your parents would love you? Yes, and your dad did, a lot. And when you went to the orphanage didn't you hope you would be adopted and maybe have a normal life? Yes! You got adopted and life got better! Did you ever hope that maybe there was someone somewhere out there who was just as confused as you were- who faced the same challenges you did? I know you did because I did. When you came to Amity Park, did you hope you might get to see Jessica and Derek again? Of course- you told me so! Did you hope we would be able to escape the Guys In White? Yes. And did we? Yes."

"I also hoped that they would leave us alone." She argued. "That didn't happen. I hope that Dani and Leo may come back someday- that won't happen. I hoped that the Titans would have been able to protect us- well, that _clearly_ did not work. I hoped that I would be able to spend the rest of my life with you, and that's just impossible, now isn't it?"

I shook my head. "No Liz, it _is_ possible! I promise you, it is. You can hold on, you can fight what ever the guys in white did to you! I love you Liz, I love you so, _so_ much! My life physically could not go on if you died! You... you can't leave me!"

"Stop making this about you!" Liz shouted. "Do you think I _want_ to leave you? God Danny that very thought has terrified me for as long as I've known you!I'm only 16 and over half my life has been torture! You think I'm not fighting? Every single morning, I wake up, and am amazed that I did. Everyday it's a challenge, and you know why? Because every second of every minute of every hour I can feel my life force getting dimmer and dimmer. I can feel parts of me breaking off and dying. You are the one and only reason I'm standing here. You think I want to leave you?"

"You saved my life- more times then I can count."

"You saved me too."

"You are my best friend."

Liz was quiet. "You're my best friend too Danny. But look at the facts, everyone I love or care about, leaves or has to be left. My dad, Amity Park, Sam, Tucker, Dani, Leo, Derek, and Jessica. Even the fish I had when I was five left."

"He died?"

"Nope. Jess, Derek and I went to the ocean and we stowed away in my water bottle. He's in the ocean now."

I looked down at my girlfriend. We were both mad from yelling, yet sorry for doing it. I, however, needed to blow off steam. Maybe beating Beast Boy into a bloody pulp would make me feel better...

"Give up on yourself if you want Liz," I said, turning so my back was to her. "But I won't. And I would never leave you."

With those as my parting words, and a bitter taste in my mouth, I left my room, closing the door tightly behind me.


	40. Broken but fixed- Liz

"Wow Liz!" Beast Boy said, laughing as we bounced on our mattress pyramid. "I never knew you has this.. _side_ to you!"

I giggled as he purposefully bounced me really high. "There are lot's of things you don't know about me!

"Girl, you got a naughty side to you!"

I rolled my eyes at the green teen. "I don't count this as 'naughty'."

We both stopped jumping for a moment. I was tired and out of breath and sore, but I did my best not to show it. Truthfully, I was having a blast. And unless Danny was there, that normally didn't happen.

"Why are we doing this behind Danny's back?" BB questioned. "I mean, what if he finds out!?"

Inwardly, I sighed. I should have seen this question coming. I mean, it wasn't really like me to ask Beast Boy to do something. Especially when we both knew that my boyfriend wouldn't approve.

"Why are you so concerned?"

BB rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He looked 100% ridiculous. Somehow, I had managed to convince him to put on a pink flowing princess dress (there was no limit t my closet), sparkling heels, a long blond wig, and red lipstick with blush and mascara.

I really wished I had a camera...

"Liz," Beast Boy was just now feeling the effects of jumping in heels for almost two hours- he was out of breath. "If he saw us doing this then I would be the next topping on Cy's meat lovers pizza."

I dragged my hand through my hair. Maybe Beast boy was right- what was I thinking!? I mean, I had first gotten BB to help me with Danny's birthday present- that I didn't regret. But then promising to show him 'on hell of a good time in my room'? When I said that, I hadn't even known what I was promising.

I didn't want to disappoint him by making us play something lame like Scrabble, so I panicked. I remembered what Sam, Danny, Tucker and I used to do in Vlad's mansion.

Danny would be the hero, Sam or I would be the victim, and the other two would be monsters. The four of us would construct elaborate forts made of pillows, blankets, and mattresses- basically creating our own little world. It may have been a little childish for us, but we didn't care. Because every time we played the game, we could control every thing that happened. Who won, and who lost.

Sometimes the monsters would actually win, slay the hero and take the girl for themselves. We wanted it to be realistic.

I had mentioned to Danny the other day about playing it again, but the two of us by modifying the rules. However, he quickly shot me down by insisting that I rest and jumping around- not to mention the work it took to _build_ our little playland- was not the best idea.

But when the chance came to play again... I couldn't pass it up. As Beast Boy and I built our little fortress and got into costume, I felt like a kid again. I smiled, laughed, had fun, and momentarily forgot the ever present truth.

"We are only doing this without him because he would never let me do it _with_ him!" I explained. "If I'm going to die, I want to go out with a bang, ya know?"

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow in the cockiest way I've ever seen. "Is this the bang you want to go out on?"

He jumped, turned into a gorilla, and landing, sending me higher then I thought possible. I slid my hand on the ceiling, pushing off it so I could bounce BB right back. For a little while, we just bounced around, laughing. Sometimes we would pant too, but it was just plain fun!

Despite the physical activity and Danny's old ghost uniform, I was getting cold. I jumped and flipped off of the pyramid, grabbing a jacket from the floor. It was huge on me- it belonged to my boyfriend.

Beast Boy jumped down and helped me slide it on, zipping the zipper for me when it got stuck. The fabric made an unpleasant sound as I crawled dramatically up the fort. BB followed me, laughing.

Once at the top, BB grabbed my wrist, jumping around and pulling me with him. I shoved him playfully on the arm, and he shoved me back. I shoved him harder and he returned the favor. When we did, however, I was too close to the edge, and wound up tumbling backwards and hitting the coffee table.

"Oh," I gasped a little as I flattened an empty soda can. "Ouch. God Beast Boy, can you _please_ be a little more gentle next time?"

"I'm sorry!" He squeaked, kneeling down so he could get a better look. "It didn't break, did it?" He looked scared. I turned and checked the coffee table for any cracks, chips, or anything. "No," I giggle, rapping the wood lightly with my knuckles. "It's too big and hard for that."

Suddenly, my bedroom door slammed open.

"Oh. Hi Danny!" I smiled at my boyfriend as he stormed into the room.

However, he clearly did not like what he saw. His jaw hit the floor.

"Tell me this isn't what it looks like." He demanded, closing his eyes. He opened them again, as if hoping that something had changed.

"It's uh... not what it looks like?" Beast boy said quietly.

"Get out." Danny said in a steely calm voice. "Get out _right now._ " BB rushed out of the room, holding the skirt of his dress up sa he ran so as not to trip on it.

"Danny! That was harsh."

My boyfriend glared at me. "You two are in _so_ much trouble."

Was he for real? "Ok _dad_." I spit the word out as an insult. "Ground me- send me to my room if you want- that's basically all I can do now anyway."

"I can not believe you would do that with someone other then me!" Danny cried, looking as if I had betrayed him.

The room was hot- or maybe it was just because I was mad, but I took his jacket off, chucking it at the floor.

"OK, ok. I'm sorry! But you wouldn't do it with me!" Danny had never looked at me the way he was now. It physically hurt to see that look in his eyes. Did he not understand why I did was I did? And besides, I already felt guilty about it! I didn't think my boyfriend would really accept that answer though.

"Because I didn't want you to get hurt!" Danny protested trying to justify his anger.

"Don't get mad!" I said defensively. "Besides, Beast Boy didn't hurt me."

He rolled his eyes. "Tell that to the dent in the coffee table."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw he was right. Our once perfect coffee table was now sporting a small dent in the middle. I turned back to my boyfriend, my anger slowly rising.

"Why is this such an issue?"

"Are you _kidding_ me!?" He shouted. "You went behind my back to do this- were you going to tell me?" He looked in anger around our room.

From then, our fight escalated. Our voices were raised, our feet were being stamped, and we gestured a lot with our hands.

At last he took a deep breath and took my hand in his own. "When is it going to get across to you that I won't let you go?" He asked. He almost sounded... _tearful._ Normally, the threat of my boyfriend crying was enough for me to stop and make him feel better. This time however, the fact that he might start crying over me just made me mad.

"STOP ACTING LIKE IT'S YOUR CHOICE!"

Danny looked like I had slapped him.

"Let's get real Danny," I snapped. "Do I _look_ like a girl my age should?" I paused as he really truly looked at me. "I look dead, don't I? D-E-A-D _dead_ Danny. I am hopeless, I am weak, and I am dying."

"Are you listening to yourself?" Danny yelled at me. "You of all people know that there is ALWAYS hope!"

"That's a _lie_ Danny! Hope is some mythical, made up word that was invented to help children sleep at night. Hope is what they tell people when a war happens, when they realize a family went broke, or when someone got themselves in the hospital. And ya know, maybe other people can have hope. Maybe _other_ people can sit there and 'hope for the best' of simply have hope that things will get better. But how can we do that Danny? How can we 'hope for the best' when even the 'best' is hopeless? There is no best to hope for! Not for us anyway!"

"Really?" Danny looked like he wanted to punch something, but there was nothing to hit. "Liz, you can't say that! Think about your past- did you hope your parents would love you? Yes, and your dad did, a lot. And when you went to the orphanage didn't you hope you would be adopted and maybe have a normal life? Yes! You got adopted and life got better! Did you ever hope that maybe there was someone somewhere out there who was just as confused as you were- who faced the same challenges you did? I know you did because I did. When you came to Amity Park, did you hope you might get to see Jessica and Derek again? Of course- you told me so! Did you hope we would be able to escape the Guys In White? Yes. And did we? Yes."

"I also hoped that they would leave us alone." I argued. "That didn't happen. I hope that Dani and Leo may come back someday- that won't happen. I hoped that the Titans would have been able to protect us- well, that _clearly_ did not work. I hoped that I would be able to spend the rest of my life with you, and that's just impossible, now isn't it?"

"No Liz, it _is_ possible! I promise you, it is. You can hold on, you can fight what ever the guys in white did to you! I love you Liz, I love you so, _so_ much! My life physically could not go on if you died! You... you can't leave me!"

"Stop making this about you!" Now I was full on screaming at him. "Do you think I _want_ to leave you? God Danny that very thought has terrified me for as long as I've known you!I'm only 16 and over half my life has been torture! You think I'm not fighting? Every single morning, I wake up, and am amazed that I did. Everyday it's a challenge, and you know why? Because every second of every minute of every hour I can feel my life force getting dimmer and dimmer. I can feel parts of me breaking off and dying. You are the one and only reason I'm standing here. You think I want to leave you?"

"You saved my life- more times then I can count."

"You saved me too."

"You are my best friend."

My voice abandoned me. I felt the back of my eyes sting with tears. "You're my best friend too Danny. But look at the facts, everyone I love or care about, leaves or has to be left. My dad, Amity Park, Sam, Tucker, Dani, Leo, Derek, and Jessica. Even the fish I had when I was five left."

"He died?"

"Nope. Jess, Derek and I went to the ocean and we stowed away in my water bottle. He's in the ocean now."

"Give up on yourself if you want Liz," He said, turning so his back was to me. "But I won't. And I would never leave you."

And just like that, my boyfriend stormed out of the room. For a minute, I just stood there, my fists clenched at my sides shaking with anger. We had never _ever_ fought like that before. And it hurt. It physically hurt- a sharp pain in my chest was present, a reminder of what had just happened.

The room tilted slightly. I realized with a start that the pain wasn't from crying, or from guilt of yelling at Danny. It was my shot wound. It was _burning._

My knees gave out from under me and I fell to the ground, my nails digging into the carpet as the pain intensified. My tears fell down to the carpet. Yet as soon as it started, it stopped.

A crash sounded from the hallway, causing me to jump up and see what had happened.

Danny and Cyborg were in the hall. There was a newly made hole in the wall. Judging by the dry wall and dust that coated Danny's hand, he had made it. Now, he seemed to be attempting to make another hole- this one in Cyborgs chest!

"I said _no!"_ Danny shouted.

"CALM DOWN!" Cy yelped and ducked Danny's flying fist. Instead of colliding with Cyborgs face, he punched full force into Cyborgs stomach. Punching a metallic torso must have hurt, because Danny wince as a sickening crack echoed through the hall.

"Gah..." He pulled his fast swelling hand to his chest, shaking it out lightly.

Danny had, however, managed to dent Cyborg.

"Are you ok?" Cy asked with concern.

Danny glared at him. "No I'm not alright! I'm pretty sure my hand is broken, and it seems very likely that you went totally insane! Liz is NOT COMING WITH US!"

"What am I not coming with?" Danny and Cyborg whirled around to see me in the door frame.

Danny's eyes locked on to mine, and trailed down the tear tracks on my cheeks.

The girlfriend in me was screaming to run over to him and make sure his hand was alright. Judging from how swollen his hand was, and the sickening crack his fist had made, it probably wasn't.

"We uhh... we were able to contact Robin through the robot. We know where he is and are planning a rescue mission the day after tomorrow. I was telling Danny our plan. I was going to suggest that you come with us-"

"But you _aren't."_ Danny said firmly. "You are _not_ breaking into the Guys In White Liz! You are in no condition to do that. You are staying here." He shook his hand out again. His eyes betrayed his tough guy act and showed me how painful it really was. "And you will not have Beast Boy with you."

"You're right." Cyborg said, cautiously examining Danny's bruised hand. "She won't be here with Beast Boy. She'll be here with you."

Danny stared at him, as if he were insane. "What? Why? You can't tell me what to do!"

Cyborg gave him a questioning look. "I'll tell you why. 1.) You brought up a very good point- it's suicide for you two to go back there. You spent so much time trying to break out, it's not fair to ask you to break in. Besides, the likelihood of having to fight there is really high. 2.) I know you have ghost immunity and all, but that break is bad. I'm going to take X- rays, and you will probably have to have a cast on for a little while. So fighting is a bad idea for you too. So, given that, you guys are staying here."

Danny opened his mouth to protest, but Cyborg sent him a canceling glare. "End of discussion."

Danny looked at the floor.

"C'mon." Cyborg said softly, leading Danny down the hall towards the infirmary. "We have to get your hand checked out."

He nodded silently and allowed the robotic teen to lead him away. He looked at me over his shoulder, his eyes begging me to come with him.

I bit my lip and followed. I might be ticked off the guy, but I still loved him. And if he was in pain, I would be by his side.

Once in the infirmary, Cy called up his team mates to help, then began setting up his X- ray machine.

"Does it hurt?" I whispered.

Danny nodded ever so slightly.

It looked like it. His left hand was swelling, his knuckles spit, bruised, and bleeding.

BB, Raven, and Starfire walking in then.

"Whoa bro, what's you do?" BB asked, long since changing out of his princess clothes. "Punch the concrete?"

"More like my stomach," Cyborg corrected, pushing an X- ray o wheels over to us.

"Have you ever broken a bone before?" Raven asked, pulling some kind of foam thing out from a cupboard.

Danny shook his head. "Just my ribs when you found us... I think."

Raven nodded. She took Danny's hand and positioned it over the foam brink. It kind of looked like a foam stair case.

Danny winced, trying to pull his hand away. As he did, he hit it on the base of the cot.

"Ow!" He yelped.

Raven gave him a stern look. "This is going to hurt. Don't make it worse."

Danny might have looked strong on the outside, but His eyes were slightly glossy. His hand hurt.

As Raven positioned his hand for the X- rays, I sat next to him, tracing slow circles on his back.

"That break is quite severe," Starfire observed. Her eyes watered.

"Hey Star," Danny said with a pained smile. "Why don't you wait in the living room? When we're done here, we'll all meet you there ok? You can pick a movie or something. Does that sound good to you?"

Starfire's smile lit up the room like the fourth of July. "Thank you friend Danny!" She hugged his torso tightly before skipping out of the room.

"How bad is the break?" I asked.

Cyborg dragged a hand over his face. "Well... You definitely need a cast."

"For how long?" Danny asked anxiously.

"6 months?" Cyborg shrugged helplessly. "Actually, it's probably closer to 8 or 10 months."

"But what about is ghost immunity!?" I protested. "He should be fine sooner then that!"

Raven shook her head. "It's 8- 10 month _with_ his ghost healing. If he didn't have it, the he'd be in the cast for more like a year and a half to two years."

"B- but how am I supposed to fight?" Danny asked, looking down at his hand helplessly. "Can I fire any powers through the cast? What am I supposed to do?"

Beast Boy sighed. "Sorry buddy. No powers from that hand. If you're going to fight, just don't use your hand."

"I always fight with my hands!"

"Well, I guess this is a good time to learn something new."

My boyfriend groaned. "I am such an idiot! I shouldn't have tried to hit Cy."

Cyborg laughed. "You got the worse end of it- it didn't hurt me at all. So, what color do you want your cast to be?

45 minutes later, Danny's hand was encased in a neon green cast, and we were all sitting on the couch, watching (I can't believe I'm saying this) Barbie Meriposa.

No one dared argue with Starfires choice of movie. It was supposed to be calming and full of nice feelings. Evidently screaming at someone in a tower wasn't the most private of activities. Star wanted to help make sure Danny and I were happy.

It didn't work very well. What did Danny think he was doing- dictating whether or not I went somewhere or did something? I know he's my boyfriend, and he loves me and is only trying to protect me, but still!

The poor guy looked miserable. He kept looking at his hand and scowling, no doubt thinking about how stupid he'd acted. Not to mention he was stuck watching a movie meant for 3 year old girls.

"Friend Liz? Friend Danny?" Starfire said almost shyly.

We both looked at her.

"Have you made up since your verbal battle?"

Raven looked up, as if this interested her. "You guys had a fight?"

Neither Danny nor I responded. For whatever reason, both BB and Raven seemed slightly pleased by this.

"I see..." she said quietly.

I stood up. "I'm going to bed." No one tried to stop me as I stalked out of the room. As soon as I was in my room I slammed the door behind me. I felt awful that Danny's hand was broken. I felt worse that fighting would be a whole new difficulty for him now. And on top of that, when his hand did finally heal, he would be so used to fighting without it that it would be nearly impossible to get it into as perfect use as he had it now. My boyfriend had just given himself a weakness for life.

I sighed and looked at my messy room. The mattress pyramid, the trash, the dirty clothes- it was a mess.

I looked up at my mattress tower. Beast Boy and I had designed it so when you jumped in the middle- where all the blankets were- it was really hard to get out. Of course, I had built in a fail safe; there was a mattress that only LOOKED like it was like the others. It was really propped up so you can slide under it.

The entire structure seemed stupid now.

_I just wanted to live a little before I died. To feel that same safe, childish innocence again before everything was gone for ever._

Gone forever. In just one week. A tear slide down my cheek, landing on the back of my hand. There was so much that I had wanted to do with my life. And now, I had 7 short days- at best- to enjoy my last breaths.

My forearm skimmed the bullet wound and I almost screamed. It just _hurt so bad!_

I had to bit down on my hand to keep from shouting out. This wasn't fair it just wasn't fair! There was so much I wanted to say to Danny- so much for him to know! But I just... I just couldn't say it.

Just then a light bulb went off in my head. Who ever said I needed to say them?

My eyes wandered to the other side of my room, where my desk was. As if by magic, there happened to be a spiral notebook right in the center of it. Tears still running down my cheeks, I scooped up the notebook and a pen, and began to write.

_Dear Danny,_

When I woke up the next morning, I was on my bedroom couch. Danny was no where to be seen. I bit back a curse. I just wanted to kiss and make up with him.

I opened my bedroom door and walked out to the kitchen. I thought I was alone until I heard a soft snore from the couch. I walked over and saw Danny on his back, his left arm above his head and his right one dangling off the edge of the couch.

"Danny?" I whispered. He didn't respond. "Hey, babe, it's already 10 in the morning, you have to wake up now."

I didn't think he even heard me until he muttered, eyes still closed, "Did you just call me' babe'?"

I laughed as he tiredly opened his eyes. I shrugged in response to his question.

"I figured you'd be asleep when I said that."

He grinned. "I like it when you call me that, Lizzie."

My heart skipped a beat when he said that.

Danny yawned and sat up, stretching his arms. When he noticed his hand in the cast, he sighed. "So I guess being an idiot and breaking my hand wasn't a bad dream after all, huh?"

I put a light hand on his shoulder. "Afraid not. But hey, it looks cool!"

He snorted. "Yeah I sure. Can you imagine what I'll have to say if someone asks me how I broke it? ' _Oh yeah well I got pissed off and first punched a wall, then punched a robotic teenage guy in the stomach. So now I have to wear this for almost a month'_."

He held his hand away from him and frowned. "I'm such an idiot!"

"Hey..." I leaned over the back of the couch and wrapped my arms around his neck. "You aren't an idiot!"

"Yeah I am." Danny turned his head so he could see me better. "I'm an idiot for getting so mad at you. I shouldn't have tried to stop you from doing something you wanted to do. And I shouldn't have gotten so mad when Cyborg suggest the rescue mission for Robin. I just..."

I jumped over the side of the couch and sat next to him, my eyes searching his. For whatever reason, he looked helpless- like his world was ending.

"You just what? You can tell me Danny.."

Danny sighed, closed his eyes, and leaned back on the couch, his hair falling in his face. "You're going to laugh at me- it really is stupid."

"I won't laugh. Or think it's stupid."

Danny opened one eye to look at me. "Swear?"

"Of course."

He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his arms dangling between them. "When I heard you and Beast boy in our room I thought... I thought you guys were... well... doing... _**it**_."

"It? What do you mean- oh. Oh! God no! Gross Danny! I would never- and definitely not with Beast Boy, why would you think-?!"

"I _told_ you it was stupid!" Danny moaned.

"Is that why you got so mad?"

"Yeah.. and something else."

A frown etched itself onto my face. "What else?"

"What you said- you were giving up and.. well you were right. You _don't_ look like you should! And... I'm sorry. I _was_ making it all about me. I should be here for you more. But the truth it... I just can't imagine my life without you." His voice cracked. "I can't imagine breathing without you by my side. And the idea that I might lose you... it makes me sick because I can't do anything about it!"

Danny held up his cast hand angrily. "I mean, I broke my hand. Look at that! I could stop myself from getting hurt so why should I even think I could do a think to save you!? I can't do _anything_!" His voice got very quiet. His voice shook slightly- he was fighting off tears. "I can't do anything." He whispered.

He jumped a bit when I enveloped him in a hug. I buried my face in the curve on his neck. Tears splashed from my eyes onto the exposed skin on his neck. At first my boyfriend was stiff, as if not sure how to react to my sudden out burst. But he got over it fast and hugged me back, his chin on top of my head.

"I can't imagine life without you either Danny!" I sobbed. "And you aren't an idiot ok!? I'm sorry I yelled at you! I never ever ever ever should have said any of that stuff! Don't say you can't do anything because you have kept me alive for longer then you know! So don't feel useless ok! You got hurt because you are human! Ok, half human but that still counts! You are not stupid, or weak, or useless or anything ok! You're amazing Ghost boy and I love you! I love you I love you I love you I love you! So please stop beating yourself up over this!"

I don't know why but I just couldn't fight back the tears anymore. The shook my body as I just sobbed and sobbed into my Boyfriends chest. And Danny held me. He stroked my hair as I blabbered on. When I was done, he pulled me away so I was facing him. He carefully wiped my cheeks with the back of his soft hand.

"Lizzie, why are you crying?" Danny asked, his palm pressed against my cheek.

I shook my head. "I don't know..."

Danny pulled me forward and kissed my forehead lightly. "It'll be ok, Lizzie. I promise ghost girl. It'll be ok..."

_Oh Danny. Don't make promises you can't keep._

"You looked tired." I sniffed.

"I didn't sleep very well last night."

I looked into his blue eyes. "So sleep in our bed tonight."

Danny smiled, running his fingers through my hair. "You sure you want me there?"

I nodded, turning his head towards mine before kissing him. It was long and sweet and natural and perfect.

For the rest of the day, we sat in our room, watching anime. We both seemed to really enjoy one called Fairy Tail, so we would up binge watching the show until really late.

"Why is the pyramid still standing?" Danny asked in a sleepy voice. He was only half awake.

"I don't know." I yawned. Danny was leaning on me, his head in my lap.

"If you could change one thing about me, what would it be?" Danny asked, his eyes slowly fluttering closed.

"I wouldn't let you have a broken hand."

Danny laughed slightly. "You and me both."

I was falling asleep too. I didn't even think Danny was still awake, but I still voiced my question.

"If you could change one thing about me, what would it be?"

Danny might have answered, he might not have, I'll never know. Before an answer could be uttered, I was fast asleep.

"Guys?" Cyborg, Raven, BB, and Star all crowded in our door frame. Danny and I were on our couch, cuddled close and watching 'The Fantastic Four'.

"We're leaving. We'll see you guys soon, this time with our real leader."

Danny and I smiled and waved them off. Currently, I was doodling on Danny's cast. It was covered with Fairy Tail Guild marks, Percy Jackson references, and superhero logos.

We watched out the window as the team flew off in a jet.

"Did Cyborg tell you how they contacted Robin?" I asked absently, busy drawing his old logo on his cast.

Danny nodded. "Yeah. Because Robin was tied in with the fake robot we were able to contact him. They know what floor he's on and everything."

I paused, a sick feeling in my stomach. "What floor is he on? Please Danny, did he tell you?"

Danny nodded again. "Yeah. Robin said he was on the 7th floor, in the east wing."

I sat bolt upright. "Danny, Robin can't be there! They're walking into a trap!"

Danny smiled at me. "Liz, they contacted Robin. It's ok."

"No! It's not! Danny, there is no reason for Robin to be on the 7th floor because that's the floor where they do blood work and genetic tests! The prisoner floor- which is where he should be, is the sub basement. Danny, they're walking into a trap!"

Danny wasted no time jumping up and switching his PJ's for his ghost form.

"Change. Quickly." He demanded, his expression grim.

I darted towards my closet, pausing only briefly to turn to him. "What are we going to do?"

"I hope you know how to drive," Danny said sternly. "Because we're going to save our new team."


	41. Trapped- Raven

Was I shocked when me and my team got to the 7th floor of the Guys In White HQ building, only for it to be a trap? Yes. Should I have seen it coming? Yes.

"How stupid can we be?" Beast Boy muttered as all four of us were locked in a cell. "I mean, seriously."

"LET US OUT!" Starfire shouted, slamming her fist into the wall. It didn't even make a dent.

"Don't waste your strength," a voice said over some kind of intercom. "This cell was designed to withstand an angry ghost. It can hold you four no problem."

We went still. "This is where you kept Liz and Danny? In... here?" I asked.

The cell was small, there was hardly any room to move. That was with four of us in there.

"When they were fourteen, yes," The voice said. "When they last visited us, Daniel and Liz were in separate cages."

"I can't see them getting any worse..." Cyborg muttered, shifting uncomfortably.

"Really?" said whoever was speaking.

Sometimes, I wish I knew where Cyborgs off switch was. Two agents opened the door, one grabbing me and Beast Boy, the other grabbing Star and Cy.

"You," Cyborg growled at the man who was holding him. "You're agent K!"

"Why yes," K said with a smirk. "I suppose I am."

Beast Boy tried to turn into an animal, but failed. When the trap had sprung, his chest had been enveloped in rubber. He couldn't shape shift with it on. Everyone else had hand cuffs on. Besides, it's not like we had a reason to fight back- we didn't know how to get out, or where Robin was.

The two cells we were brought too where a few floors above the last ones. They were across the hall from each other, but you never could have seen them. The sliding doors were built into the wall and covered in the same material.

"You kept a sixteen year old in _here?_ " I sneered when the door was opened. Beast boy and I had maybe six inches of space between us when we were standing. The idea of Danny and Liz living in one of these for who knows how long made me sick.

"Yup," the agent pushing BB and I laughed. "This is Danny's cell. Hope you feel at home- because you're staying here until we get Daniel."

"You'll never get him!" Beast Boy spat. "And you won't get Liz either! She's not dying because some low life agent said so."

"Are you referring to the agent that shot her?"

"Yes."

"Well, in that case," The agent grinned. "I'm not a low life." With that, the door slammed closed.

Beast Boy pounded on the door for a good hour before he realized nothing was going to happen.

"So now what?" He asked miserably. "How are we going to get out of this one?"

I sighed. "I dunno. Maybe some of the special reserve titans? Besides, Danny and Liz are at the tower- they'll realize something's wrong soon enough."

"Do you seriously think that will help?" Beast Boy sat on the floor. "They like, would never break into a place they were trying to break out of for so long. Besides, how would they like, know where we are?"

"I'm not sure. I just have faith in our friends."

I could hear Starfire and Cyborg shouting and punching their cell door from across the hall.

Our situation did seem a little hopeless. We couldn't get out of our cells, we didn't have backup, and even if we did, we didn't know where Robin was.

"Can you imagine being stuck in here for a week?" Beast boy asked as I sat across from him. I shook my head. I couldn't imagine staying in here for another 7 seconds, never mind seven days.

"This sucks."

"Thanks for stating the obvious Beast Boy."

I stretched out as much as I could and layed my head on my arms.

"What are you doing?" Beast boy asked.

"Sleeping. Do you have a problem with that?"

BB looked at me like I had gone totally insane. "Yes I have a problem with that! We should be figuring out how to escape and find Robin."

"I have a feeling we just have to wait- things will work out." I closed my eyes and drifted into sleep, hoping my feeling was correct.

(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::) ( **Go read the authors note you little rebel)** (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)

When I woke up, alarms were wailing. My first thought was; _Dr. Light get your butt back in jail._

It wasn't until I opened my eyes that I realized the alarms were coming from the hallway outside my cell.

" _ **GHOST DETECTED GHOST DETECTED GHOST DETECTED!"**_

A robotic voice screeched.

BB and I shared a shocked look. Did a ghost break into the GIW HQ? Was this some kind of drill? The sounds of chaos from behind the door told me it wasn't. _What_ was happening?

The ear splitting sound of metal scratching metal echoed though the room as the cell door was forced open.

"Get your butts in gear and let's go!" A frantic Danny shouted over the alarm.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as the three of us ran into the hallway. Liz was already there with Cy and Star.

"It's called a rescue mission," Liz said as she began to run down the hall. "Now follow me if you want to live."

"We have to save Robin!" Starfire argued.

"That's where we're going!"

Liz looked good- I mean she still looked like she was dying, but she also looked ready to kick some serious butt. Her brown hair was pulled back in a pony tail. She had a black tank top on with black jeans and combat boots to match. Danny was in his ghost form, which was probably the reason the alarms were going.

I looked behind us at the army of agents chasing after us.

"We have to slow them down somehow!" Cyborg shouted.

Danny's hand ignited before he realized that he couldn't fight with his left hand. He swore.

"Do you guys have a plan?" I asked.

Danny shrugged as we kept running. "This _was_ the plan."

"Please tell me your kidding!"

"Hey," Liz looked behind her at us and the GIW army on our tail. "We knew you guys were going into a trap, and we got you out. And we know where Robin is. I think we did pretty well."

She ducked as an agent shot at her head. She noticed a door at the end of the hallway and motioned for us to go towards it.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" K yelled from behind us.

" _Stairs?"_ Danny asked his girlfriend as she opened the door and pushed us through, closing it in the faces of they Guys in White.

"Glue the door shut," She instructed.

Danny gave her a strange look, but sealed off the door with his ghost ropes.

"I hate using that power..." He muttered.

No one paid attention, we just followed him and Liz as they began to race down the stairs.

"Where are we going?" BB asked.

"Basement," Liz panted, wiping sweat off her face. She glanced at the rails. "Meh," she shrugged. "Screw it!" She began sliding down the hand rail, spinning down the stairs.

A quick glance, and everyone followed her example.

"THIS IS AWESOME!" Beast Boy screamed. When we got to the bottom, Liz was trying to open a door.

"It's locked..." She panted.

With no time to pick the lock or hack the system, Cyborg simply threw himself at the door, and it flew in.

The room beyond the door was kind of creepy. It was pure white, like the rest of the place, but it was filled with rows and rows of cages.

"How many people where they planning on trapping?" I thought out loud.

"We have to find Robin," Cyborg said, running down a random isle. Everyone nodded. Starfire followed him, BB ran down his own isle, and I followed Danny and Liz. All the cages were empty, which added to the creepiness.

Each cage was a big cube, about 15 feet by 15 feet. The back wall and two side walls were lined with electronic panels that controlled who knows what. The front wall, which was also the door, was made of glass. There were two benches in each cell, but that was it. They were dark, and creepy.

"How are we going to find him in such a big place?" Danny asked, not really expecting an answer.

"ROBIN!" I heard my team mates shout from a few rows away.

"Robin please answer!" Star cried.

I kept running behind Danny and Liz.

Suddenly, they both stopped, and I ran into Danny.

"What's wrong?" I snapped, rubbing my fore head.

Neither of them answered. They were both staring into a cell with wide eyes. In the cell, there were two kids.

A boy with dark skin was slouched in the corner. He looked to be about Danny's age. He had big, black glasses, shaggy black hair, and was pretty tall. He was wearing a plain white T- shirt and white pants, and was barefoot. He was mindlessly tossing a red rubber ball at the wall, letting it bounce back to him, catching it, and then repeating.

The girl was in the same corner. She was dressed the same as the boy. Her hair was black at the roots and for a few inches, but the rest of her hair had been bleached blonde. She was folding up pages of Seventeen Magazine and either making faces at them, crumpling them up and chucking them, or making them into shapes. The cell floor was scattered with evidence that she did this often. She glanced up for a moment as one of her papers bounced off the glass. She jumped when she saw the three teens gaping at her.

The boy looked up at her. I saw his lips move, but I couldn't hear him- the glass must have been soundproof.

He followed the girl's gaze and he too jumped when he saw us, his blue eyes growing wide.

They two scrambled to the glass, their mouths open in shock, their eyes clouded with confusion. Danny pulled his hood away from his face. He and Liz looked more terrified then anything.

"That... that can't be them..." Danny whispered.

"S- Sam? Tucker?" Liz stuttered.

Anger welled in my chest. I heard more then enough of what these two had done to Danny... Oh, and Liz... Yeah, her too.

"That's not right!" Danny said, backing away from the door in horror. "That can't be them!"

Liz either didn't hear him, or she didn't.

"Guys!" I heard Beast boy shout. "We found him! We need some help over here!"

Neither Liz nor Danny moved a muscle. Danny was backed as far as he could go, while Liz was slowly inching closer to the glass.

"Sam? Tucker?" She asked softly. Sam nodded. She tried to respond, but Liz shook her head, indicating that she couldn't hear. Tucker snapped his fingers as if he had gotten a good idea. He leaned forward and breathed on the glass, fogging it up. In the fog, he wrote **Liz?** She nodded.

"GUYS!" Cyborg shouted. "WE NEED HELP!"

"Danny, Liz... we need to go." I said. They didn't respond to me. As Liz moved closer to the glass, a floor air vent caught the hem of her shirt, blowing it up. I gasped at the sight of her shot wound. The scar was ugly and it looked like the veins around it had been tattooed an ugly green/black.

"Liz," Seeing his hurt girlfriend, Danny snapped out of his trance. He rushed over to her and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulder, moving her an inch of two away from the glass.

Tucker and Sam had gone white, Sam's hands covering her mouth in total horror. Liz pressed her palm on the glass, and Sam mimicked her.

" _I'm sorry!"_ Sam mouthed, her body shaking with held in sobs. " _I'm so, so sorry!"_

Danny narrowed his eyes. His slammed his fist into the glass and laced his finger's with Liz's. "We have to go." He said in a voice that made it very clear that the topic was not up for discussion. "You heard BB and Cy, the need our help. So _let's go."_

Liz nodded and let herself to be pulled away, but her eyes never left Sam's.

When Liz finally turned her back on her former friend, tears were threatening to fall form her eyes.

BB, Cy, and Star were only about three rows away from us. When we got there, the three were trying to open the glass cage where Robin was. When I saw him, my heart skipped a beat. He was laying motionless on his bench, his arms folded over his chest. His mask was gone, his eyes closed. Robin had an IV sticking out of his arm.

"Is he ok?" I asked.

"We think so," said Cyborg. "I think the IV is keeping his asleep though."

We heard fists banging on the door.

"Crap..." Danny muttered. He tapped his knuckles on the glass. "This is bad. The Guys In White are right outside that door, and we can't get Robin out."

"Can you not shatter the glass?" Starfire questioned.

Danny shook his head. "Nope. This anti- ghost material. I can't break it, phase through it, nothing."

Beast Boy growled. "If my chest wasn't covered in a melted bouncy ball, I could get him out!"

The pounding of fists and shouts from the hall got louder and more persistent.

"What are we gonna do!" Cyborg shouted. "Some one think of an idea _now!_ "

"Danny!" Liz shouted, grabbing her boyfriends arm. "Freeze the rubber around Beast Boy. Then we can shatter it and he can transform again!"

"Are you sure that will work?" Danny asked, doubt in his eyes.

"Nope! But we have to try."

Danny nodded and motioned for BB to come closer. "Ok, this is going to get really cold."

Ice spread from Danny's right palm as he pressed it to BB's chest. The green shapshifter yelped at the temperature, but didn't pull away. Soon, his entire chest was encased with ice. Before anything could happen, a loud **BANG!** Rang though the room. Guys In White agents poured in like cockroaches.

"HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!" One shouted.

Danny and Liz exchanged terrified looks as they slowly backed away from everyone.

With a roar, Beast Boy turned into an elephant, stopping the Guys In White in their tracks. The green elephant kicked in the glass of Robin's cage and picked our leader up with his trunk.

Starfire shot her starbolts at the agents while Cyborg fired his energy blasts. I used my powers to make their guns fly away.

"How are we supposed to get out of here!?" Cyborg shouted.

"FOLLOW ME!" Danny yelped, ducking an agent threw a shoe at him. He turned, running after our ghostly friends. BB picked us up, one b one, and put us on his back. Danny was the only one running; he was leading us out (hopefully).

He lead us in a huge circle, the back to the door. The Guys In White had been following us, so there wasn't anyone left to guard the door. From there we ran to the first floor, where he gracefully charged through the white marble lobby, crashing through the glass doors and out the brick wall. Danny might not have been able to use his left hand, but his right hand was just fine!

" _What_ did you do to my car!?" Cyborg shouted when he saw the T- Car double parked in the parking lot. It didn't actually look bad, it just had a three inch scratch on the hood.

"Get in!" Liz demanded, jumping into the drivers seat.

"You are _not_ driving my baby! Cyborg shouted as the rest of us piled in, Danny in shotgun, the rest of us in the back. BB turned into a cat so there was more room, and us last three had a sleeping Robin spread across our laps.

"Yes I am!" Liz snapped, throwing the stick shift into reverse.

"You're going to get us killed!"

"You have to wake up Robin!" Liz snapped, screeching out of the GIW parking lot. "Besides, I know how the Guys In White drive, you don't!"

The car nearly tipped over as she sped through a stop sign and turned.

"WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO DRIVE!?" BB yelped, tuning back into a human so he could hold onto something. That something happened to be me, by the way.

"Video games mostly!" Liz said, swerving to avoid getting hit by a car.

Lord, we were going to die. Liz looked behind her to make sure the GIW weren't following us. When she saw that it was safe, she sighed in relief, slowed down, and pressed the button to make the car fly. Starfire, BB, and Cy screamed. If Liz's driving was the same in the air as it was on the ground, then we were all kinds of screwed.

However, I think we were all pleasantly surprised when Liz flying in the air was almost as smooth as if Cyborg was driving.

"How are you this good at flying?" Beast Boy asked, leaning forward.

Danny laughed. "First of all, we fly even without a plane. Second, the T- car in flight mode is almost identical to the flight mode of the Specter Speeder- and we drove that all the time."

I had no idea what a 'Specter Speeder' was, but I didn't care. In a couple of hours, we would be home, and maybe by then, Robin would be awake.

I leaned back and closed my eyes. We had our leader back. We had just bested the Guys In White. Everything seemed to be going our way.

Little did I know that my happiness would be very short lived.


	42. Vows- Danny

Whatever drug the Guys In White had been pumping into Robin must have been strong. The poor kid was out cold for two days! The day he woke up is one that I will always remember.

Liz's official birthday.

The day started off normal enough. I woke up, but Liz wasn't next to me. Then again, it was noon already. I hadn't been sleeping well. At night, nightmares of me attending a funeral plagued my mind. Instead, I would sit in my bed, awake for hours on end, just watching. Watching the way the city landscape changed with every passing hours, watching the way the stars would shimmer brighter whenever you felt down.

And Liz.

I would watch her, relaxed by the fact that she was breathing soundly next to me. The words she said to me haunted me: Every second of every minute of every hour I can feel my life force getting dimmer and dimmer.

She could feel that all she wanted, but her life force wouldn't go out. I wouldn't let that happen, not now, not ever.

I got dressed and walked to the kitchen. The living room was uncharacteristically quiet. All I could hear was... paper?

Liz was sitting on the couch, writing something in her notebook.

"Morning," I said, leaning over the back of the couch to kiss her cheek. She returned the favor, hiding her notebook from view.

"It's your official birthday today, is there anything special you wanna do?"

Liz shrugged. "We normally celebrate tomorrow but..." She bit her lip. "Would it be ok if we exchanged gifts tonight instead of tomorrow?"

"Sure! What ever you want old lady."

Liz stuck her tongue out at me. "I take it back," She said in a tone that meant she didn't actually take it back. "Maybe we should wait until tomorrow, don't want to keep you up past your bed time little boy."

She stood and hugged me. "I made something special for breakfast."

"Why?" I asked. "It's your birthday, not mine."

"I don't care. Today is our birthday, ok?"

That was going against everything we'd celebrated for the past two years, but I didn't argue. My girlfriend lead me over to the kitchen where a plate of red velvet cup cakes were just waiting to be eaten.

"Did you make these?"

She nodded. She held one up to my mouth. "Take a bite!" Liz laughed as I bit into the cupcake, just to have the frosting smear all over my mouth.

I grabbed a cupcake too, and instructed her to take a bite as well. She did, a white frosting mustache appearing on her upper lip. She giggled.

"Are the good?" Liz asked.

I nodded. "Very! I'm really lucky you can cook."

"Why's that?"

"Because I can't cook to save my life!" We both laughed remembering the time in Home EC where the classroom caught fire because of me. We had been making oatmeal.

"So, what do you wanna-" I was cut off as Cyborg came flying into the room.

"There you guys are!"

"What up?" Liz asked, forgetting her frosting mustache.

"Robin's waking up!" Cyborg said. "Shave off the frosting and come on!"

We wiped the frosting of and raced after Cyborg. I'm not sure what we were expecting. I know I was fully expecting Robin to wake up and be the same as the robot had. However, I had seen a little of the real him before, so I assumed that's what he would be like.

The other titans were in the infirmary where Robin was.

"How do you know he's waking up?" I asked. As far as I could tell, the kid was still out cold.

"His vital signs," Raven said, her eyes locked on her leader. "His brain activity is going up, his heart beating faster- he's going to wake up soon."

No sooner had the words left her mouth then a groan came from Robin, and he opened his eyes. He sat up and yawned looking around the room. Somehow, he had gotten his mask back. He looked at his team very calmly. I was expecting him to thank them, bow down and worship them for breaking him out.

Instead, he crossed his arms and said, "Really? It took you that long to realize I was captured? And even then, it was Danny and Liz who figured it out!" He scoffed playfully. "I guess our next training session should focus on observing people's behavior."

Starfire laughed and jumped into his arms, hugging him so tightly his ribs cracked.

"Nice... to see you... too... Starfire," Robin gasped out as she crushed him. After she detached herself from him, BB took her place. He might not have had her alien strength, but being hugged by a gorilla couldn't have been pleasant. Raven smiled slightly at him and Cyborg gave him a high five. Robin's smile melted when he saw me and Liz.

"I... I'm sorry." was all he said. Liz just nodded, and shook his hand as if meeting him for the first time.

"Welcome back Robin," I said in a flat voice.

"So... I know we're all wondering the same thing," Raven began. "What happened exactly?"

Robin sighed. "Yeah, I knew that was coming." he sat on the edge of the bed. "You guys already know most of it. Basically, that robot was a biological, organic computer. It was originally it was designed for the military. The Guys In White, however, saw a different purpose for it. I, in a way, was plugged into it." Robin rubbed the back of his head self consciously.

"They used a wireless transmitter. While I was trapped, I was forced to listen and watch what was happening through the robot. The chip that was plugged into my skull would pick up my brain waves, and thus tell the robot how to act."

"So why were you such a jerk?" I asked.

Robin smiled. "That's where the plan was flawed. I've always been good at hiding my emotions, and it helped me a lot. When I watched, I would purposefully think of something else- something that would make the robot act differently then I would."

"Smart," Liz admitted. "But why the heck did they do it in the first place?"

"To monitor you two." Robin admitted. "The robot was a first class stalker." He turned to me. "Did you know you talk in your sleep? Like, a lot?"

My face turned red and Liz hid her smile behind her hand.

"y- you watched us while we were sleeping?"

This time Robin turned red. "I didn't really have a choice you know!"

Everyone laughed. The titans seemed relieved to have their leader back. I wasn't sure about how I felt to have the back, but then again I didn't truly care.

Robin declared that he was starving, and lead his friends to the kitchen. Liz followed, but I grabbed Cyborg's arm to hold him back.

"Any luck?" I whispered.

Cyborgs eyes grew sad as he shook his head. My heart sank. If the Guys In White were right, then Liz was supposed to die soon. As much as I didn't want to admit it, it seemed more and more likely to happen with each passing day.

Everyone was in the living room. Liz had made it very clear that the cupcakes were for me and her only, so the Titans were forced to find their own source of food. Once everyone had eaten, BB proclaimed that there was to be a celebratory video game tournament in honor of Robin returned, and the fact that Liz and I were 17.

Technically, I was still 16, but I decided not to point that out. Who cares about a few days anyways?

For the rest of the day, we were all in front of the TV. Every game we played was a four person game so the other three would sit out. When one of the players was killed, or lost, or the round was over, they would switch with someone on the side.

We played fighting games, racing games, shooting games- these guys had it all!

After about 5 hours of playing, Liz pulled me away.

"Let's go hang out," She said.

I agreed. I couldn't wait to give her her birthday present. I had bought it online from a local store here in Jump. Cyborg had left secretly to pick it up for me.

Liz sat down on our couch and pulled me down with here.

"Do you want to go first?" She asked. "Or should I?"

I smiled, reaching in my back pocket for her gift. "I want to go first. Close your eyes."

She did. Once I was sure they were closed, I pulled the box from behind my back and opened it.

"Open them!"

Liz gasped out loud when she say the silver ring that was in the box. "Omigod Danny!"

She let me slide the finger onto her hand.

"It's blue topaz," I explained. "I know it's not purple, but when I saw that star, it reminded me of you."

Liz smiled and kissed me. "I've heard of this gem," she said, looking at the ring on her hand in awe. "The star in the jewel is naturally there, isn't it?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

Liz grinned at me. "It's perfect Danny!"

"There's more. I mean, it's supposed to mean more then just looking pretty."

"What else is it supposed to mean?"

I took a deep breath. My heart was hammering in my chest. "It... well, It's a promise. I promise to be here for you, no matter what. I love you Liz, and, in light of everything, I figured I might as well tell you- I love you. I love you more then anyone or anything on earth. I can't imagine my life without you. All I can imagine is my life with you, whether it's in the clutches of the Guys In White, here with the titans, running away, or where ever else life plans on taking us. That ring... It's proof. Proof that no matter what happens, I'm yours and no one else's. And I will do any and everything I can to be there for you, forever."

Liz laughed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. "God Danny, that was the most romantic thing you have ever said to me!" She leaned in and kissed me.

When we pulled apart, she was smiling. "Now you close your eyes!"

I did. I could hear Liz lean forward, and then something was being tied around the back of my neck. "I promise," she said. "That no matter what happens I love you. I will be with you forever, in every single way possible."

She grinned when I opened my eyes. "I'm sorry my speech isn't as long or as touching as yours was, but it means the same thing. We had the same idea!"

I looked down to see what she had given me. It was a pendent, made out of twisted metal wire. I smiled- it was my DP symbol. And dangling in the center was a small, silver star.

"I know it's not the most manly thing in the world but-"

"It's perfect." I held it close.

"Danny?" Liz said a little shyly. "There... there's one more thing I want to do."

"What's that?"

She sighed, touching the necklace she had just given me. "I want us to make a vow."

"A vow? What, like a marriage vow?"

She laughed. "No, not exactly. Just... in light of everything that's going on... well, just repeat after me."

She slid her ring off and clutched it in her hand. In the other, she held my charm. She put my hands on top of hers.

"I want these gifts to be proof of what we are about to swear, ok?"

"Sure," I nodded. "But what exactly are we swearing here?"

Liz smiled and explained. "I want us both to vow that together or apart, we will always love each other, care for each other, and live together forever."

"This sounds suspiciously like a wedding vow..."

"Danny!" Liz snapped playfully. "Just swear!"

I smiled at her. "Ok, ok, I swear."

"I swear too." She paused. "This is the part you might not like.

I looked at her, but didn't stop her.

"We will be happy together, forever. And if fate leaves on without the other, the other lives on. Remembers the good instead of the bad, realizes the truth of our love. But they must live, without guilt, regret, pain, sadness,of self inflicted punishment."

I raised an eye brow. "Liz, if this is because you think you're going to die,"

"Swear Danny!" She demanded, her eyes pleading.

I shook my head. "I'm not going to if this is because of some stupid crap the Guys In White said!"

"Danny..." Liz said sadly. "Listen. I know this is hard. But... but I really do believe what they said. I don't want to, but I do. And I hate it. Please, I need you to swear this for me, ok? The thought of me leaving you makes me sick. But what disgusts me even more is the thought of what you might do if I did. So please, please just swear." She was crying by the end of her speech.

I swallowed. "O- ok... I swear Liz. I swear. But I swear something else too. I swear that I will never ever let you be taken away from me in any way shape or form. I'm not letting you leave me, and I'm not leaving you either. Ever."

Liz looked up at me with tears streaming down her face. She nodded as she released my necklace and put her ring back on.

She hugged me and began to sob. "I'm sorry Danny," she said tearfully. "I'm sorry I have to leave you! I can't control this and I hate it! I hate this so much! I love you Danny, I can't tell you that enough!"

For an hour or so, we sat like that; Liz crying into my shoulder and me just holding her.

When her tears finally stopped, it was because she had fallen asleep. It was 8:00 at night anyways.

I carried my girlfriend over to our bed and layed her down. After changing my clothes and taking a quick shower, I layed next to her. However, I couldn't sleep.

We had done some crazy things before, but swearing on the things we just had must have topped the rest. Was Liz really going to die?

The word left a sour taste in my mouth- die. Never, in a million years would I have put the words 'Liz' and 'die' in the same sentence.

I was awake for a few hours, my thoughts keeping me awake. When sleep finally claimed me, I turned to Liz and kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you Liz," I said as I drifted to sleep.

I love you. And I'm not letting you die.


	43. FINAL CHAPTER- Danny+Liz

_ **Danny= bold Liz= normal** _

**I woke up the next morning to the sound of a wailing alarm. Someone somewhere was doing something they weren't supposed to.**

**I sighed. Why, of all days did a villain have to attack _today?_ All I wanted to do was be with Liz today. Her out burst last night had gotten me a little paranoid about what could happen in the next couple of days. **

**Rolling over, I saw Liz, still sleeping. She must have woken up in the night, because she was now listening to her iPod. Had it not been for the steady rise and fall of her chest, one probably would have thought her to be dead.**

**Her hair pooled around her like liquid, but it didn't shine. It was dull and lifeless- much like the rest of her. Pale skin stood out like bleach stains against the black sheets. Liz's eyes were closed, but I could tell she had been crying. Red rims outlined her beautiful eyes.**

**Liz looked small. And I knew better then anyone that she was anything but. Up until a few months ago, she had always been taller then me.**

**My Liz was not small. She was strong, and brave, and beautiful.**

**But sleeping next to me, she looked like a little doll that had been played with one too many times and was now awaiting the end of the world it knew.**

**As I slowly rolled out of bed, I wondered if that was what Liz felt like.**

I opened my eyes to a wailing alarm. The sheets next to me where empty They were still warm, however, which meant Danny had only just woken. I knew that after everything I said last night he wouldn't let me fight. Truth was, I wouldn't want to.

Every day I had woken up feeling weaker and weaker. This morning, however, something was different. I hadn't woken up with a sick feeling in my stomach, dreading the next day to come. No, today I woke up, and felt nothing. No fear, no guilt. If anything I felt ready. What I was ready for I didn't know. All I knew was that I was ready for whatever was going to happen.

With a considerable amount of effort, I crawled out of my bed and over to my closet. It was painful, but I didn't wince.

I smiled.

I smiled at the irony- such a cruel thing. As I pulled a shirt over my head, I knew I would soon add to ironies little games.

And I felt nothing.

For the sake of my boyfriend, I didn't allow myself to feel anything.

I pulled myself into the bathroom and dragged a brush through my hair. Once it was tame, I looked at my reflection.

I had never felt pretty- not until Danny insisted that I was. Looking in the mirror, I thought of every time he had said so. Did he still think that, now that I looked like a walking corpse?

In the mirror, an image appeared. I knew it was just a figment of my dying imagination, but I didn't really care.

In the mirror, my dad was standing behind me, his hand on my shoulder. He smiled at me, love in his eyes as well as pain.

"It's my time, isn't it?" I asked the reflection. "I killed you- it's only right you tell me."

My dad didn't say anything back, just grinned sadly and vanished.

 _It's time._ I thought. Most people would be sad, or scared, maybe happy in some cases. I knew how everyone else would feel.

The titans would probably cry when I was gone. The Guys In White would throw a party. Danny would be heart broken.

And me?

I felt nothing.

**I nearly chocked on my toothbrush when Liz walked into my bathroom. I hadn't known she was awake. She smiled at me as I took in what she was wearing- a plain white T- shirt, light blue jeans, and purple converse.**

**"Don't tell me you were going to leave me here?" She asked, leaning against the door. I frowned slightly. There was something off in her voice.**

**"Well, I didn't want you to fight..."**

**Liz smiled a sad smile. "I know. And I'm not going too. But I'm going to be there. Danny, I can not stress enough how important it is for me to be there with you."**

**I didn't argue. She ran her hand over my green cast. "Are you going to fight? I mean, you can basically only use ¾ of your appendages. Why don't we stay home instead?"**

**I laughed. "The titans just got their leader back, they will probably be a little distracted."**

**Liz sighed but didn't argue. "Why do you think we saw Sam and Tucker in that Cage?" he asked. "And why was Sam's hair like that?"**

**I lifted a shoulder. "I dunno."**

**Liz was quiet for a minute. "I know you miss her." She said suddenly. "And I know you loved her. I know about the secret kisses, the private moments, the emotional connection you two shared. I know I can never compare to Sam."**

**"What are you talking about Liz? You-" she put a finger to my lips to shush me.**

**"I can't make your past any less painful. But I can do my best to make your future all it can be."**

**"My future?" I questioned. "Liz, there is nothing for me in the future. My future is dark, helpless and empty."**

**"Danny-" now it was my turn to shush her.**

**"It's nothing but darkness, except for one thing. My one light in the darkness. That's you Liz."**

**Her lips parted in shock. But then she smiled and kissed me on the cheek. "I love you Danny. Now, do the citizens need to wait for you to take a shower before they get saved or what?"**

**I laughed and pointed to the door. "Gimmie two minutes."**

I didn't have two minutes. I felt like I hardly had two seconds. But I wouldn't let those thoughts get to me. I was going to live today, and the next day, and the day after that.I wouldn't do it for me- I would do it for Danny.

I didn't believe the lie I told myself.

I stood by the couch, willing Danny to hurry up. The room was starting to spin slightly. I had to remind myself that I needed to breath to survive.

I wondered if anyone else had died like this- knowing that half of their soul was being killed, the other half being dragged down with it? Maybe this was what being poisoned felt like? Like you were literally being split in half.

I twisted the ring on my hand, remembering that it was just yesterday Danny and I had swore to be there for each other.

"We had the same idea!" I had told him.

"I promise," I'd said whist fastening his necklace around his neck. "That no matter what happens I love you. And I will be with you forever, in every single possible way."

Then, just to ease my conscience, we had made a vow together. Swearing on my ring and his charm, we swore that together or apart, we would love each other, care for each other, and live together, forever.

"And if fate leaves one without the other," I has said, knowing full well that my vow would be broken. "The other lives on. Remembers the good instead of the bad, realizes the truth of our love. But they must _live_ , without guilt, regret, pain, sadness,of self inflicted punishment."

I made Danny swear on that last part. My glinted up at me, mocking my vow as if to say 'yeah, well tough luck. Love doesn't win the war.'

Wrong. It would win this war.

It had to.

**When I walked into my room, Liz looked ready to fall down.**

**"Are you ok?" I asked frantically.**

**"Yeah," She said. "Fine."**

**I gulped. That was probably a lie. I pushed all my negative thoughts aside, refusing to let my fears cloud my mind.**

**Liz's 17th birthday would not be her last. It wouldn't happen. Not to Liz, not to is. We had been through so much together, suffered so much already, fate just wouldn't be this cruel to us.**

**We would save her at the last second, like what happens in every movie and every book. Some miracle would drop out of the sky and she would be fine. She would grow up and live a good life.**

**After the climatic scare of her death, everything would be fine. Our story would finally have a happy ending. She would survive, the GIW would be disbanded, we would be free. We could live as free people, either with the titans or wherever we wanted. We would finally get our happily ever after.**

**Our life, however, wasn't a book. There was no author who could press the delete key a few times and change ones fate.**

**Whatever happened today was up to fate now.**

**The titans came bounding down the hall, pausing at our door, waiting for us to join them.**

**"Trouble!" Robin shouted.**

**It was hard to get used to him being here- I was used to some jerk who liked to kick me while I was down, not some responsible boy scout.**

**As we ran after the titans, Liz looked at me. I'm not sure what she was looking at- it wasn't like I was wearing anything special. My light blue shirt and black jeans weren't anything to stare at, nor were the black converse I was wearing.**

**For a moment, we ran hand in hand. But Liz soon took her hand back. She was panting and sweating like crazy. But it wasn't until she tripped that I knew something was beyond wrong.**

The carpet of the tower is not soft. It is not plush. It is hard, like that of an elementary school gym. When my knees hit the ground, I had to bite back my cry of pain. My side was in pure agony.

"I'm fine," I tried to tell everyone. As I tried to stand, I yelped, my hand flying to my shot wound. I leaned against the wall.

This was insane- it couldn't be happening! Not yet, not now! Danny rushed towards me as I began to fall. As he caught me, I pulled my hand away from my side. My palm was stained with my red and green blood. The colors weren't the healthy, vibrant shade that were supposed to be.

My blood was as black as death.

"Oh God, Oh God," Danny was muttering. "Help!" He screamed at the titans, desperation in his voice.

There was nothing he could do. At this point, there wasn't anything anyone could do any more.

"Danny," My voice sounded weaker then I had ever heard it.

Maybe this was happening too quick, maybe it was happening too soon. But it was happening now.

My boyfriend cradled me to his chest. He had never held me that way before. As if he could save my life if he held on long enough; that I couldn't leave if I was close enough to him.

"Danny look at me..."

For a second, I looked at the titans. Starfire and Beast Boy had tears running down their faces. Cyborg looked ready to do the same. Robin looked stunned and terrified at the same time. And Raven was watching, a hand covering her mouth, sadness written all over her face.

I watched as their tears fell. Tears couldn't save me now.

"Do something!" Danny yelled at them, sending them a helpless look.

In that moment, I felt my heart shatter. My boyfriend was looking at the titans with tear filled eyes, a look of total and utter defeat on his face. I had never seen him look so hopeless in all the time I'd known him. He knew just as well as everyone that he couldn't stop what was happening.

"Look at me Danny!" I demanded. When he did, I felt tears of my own escape, and slide down my cheeks.

**She was crying. Liz was crying in my arms, knowing exactly what was happening. I did my best not to let my tears fall. Because if they did, then it would mean that this wasn't a bad dream- it was really happening. If my tears fell then there would officially nothing I could do.**

**"I'm sorry..." Liz whispered tearfully, holding onto my arm.**

**"Don't say that! DO NOT SAY THAT!" The titans jumped at the volume of my voice. "You're going to be ok Liz!" I insisted.**

**"Don't just stand there!" I snapped a the titans. "Get something from the infirmary, call someone, do anything!"**

**None of them moved, they didn't even make a sound. They knew as well as I did that nothing could stop death.**

**"Danny," Liz said quietly. "Don't. There's nothing you can do."**

**"There has to be something!"**

**"No." Liz placed her hand on top of mine. "I'm so, so sorry Danny. I love you. I love you so, so, so much."**

**"I love you too!"**

**She traced a finger over the charm she had given me just last night. "Remember the vow we made last night."**

**"You aren't dying!" I yelled.**

**Liz smiled sadly. "Don't lie Danny. We both know-" I cut her off by planting my lips firmly on hers.**

His kiss was frantic, begging me to hold on, to live; if not for me then for him. For him, the kiss was one last desperate act of true love, a hope that maybe true love's kiss really did over come all else. But on my lips, all I tasted was the bitterness of farewell.

"You can't die..." Danny whispered. He was bent so close over my that our bangs collided with each other. As everything else about us, it blending perfectly. I laced my hand with his, ignoring the bulk of his cast.

It was a golden moment.

But as the poem says, "nothing gold can stay".

My side flared up and I resisted the urge to scream. Danny saw right through my mask.

"I can't live without you," He said. "I won't! I... I'll kill myself if it means I'll get to be with you!"

I shook my head, the very thought making me sick. "You promised Danny," I said, my head spinning. "You promised you would live." I paused. "Do you love me Danny?" My time was running out. A few more minutes, and I would be gone. And if I was going to leave then I was going to leave knowing I did everything I could to make it less painful for him.

Danny nodded. "I love you more then words can express."

I nodded. It would all be over soon. A soothing coldness was spreading through my body' a comfortable weight dragging me deeper and deeper into darkness.

 _Just a minute more_ I prayed.

"Then let me go."

Danny stared at me with wide, tear filled, unblinking eyes. These, I realized, would be the last moments we shared together. I smiled best I could, feeling my time tick by, second by second.

If this was my last day with Danny, then I was going to say everything I had ever wanted to say. "Daniel James Fenton, I love you more then I could possibly express. All the time in the world wouldn't be enough time spent with you. You may not be a hero to everyone, but you will always be a hero in my eyes. You'll always be my hero." I twisted my ring off and pressed it into his palm. "You told me what this stood for. But I want it to have another meaning." Three minutes. Tops. That was all the time I had left.

Danny's chest was shaking with sobs that he wouldn't let out.

"W- what do you want it to mean?"

**Liz had to take a deep breath before answering my question. "I want it to mean," Her breath hitched and she winced. She was dying, in my arms. It didn't feel real to me. Nothing did. Nothing but what Liz was saying.**

**"I want it to mean everything." She said. "Everything you've wanted to say or will want to say. Everything- just say it now." Liz was trying to make this about me' make it less painful for _me_. I smiled slightly, if only to make her feel better. **

**"Elizabeth Marie Masters. I have loved you since the very second I saw you and will love you until the day I die. And, if I could have, I would have asked you to marry me when we were older. But seeing the situation now," I slide the ring onto the finger she would wear it on if we were really married. "That stands for us." I told a shocked looking Liz. "If I could, I would make you my wife Liz."**

**For the first time in a ling time, a smile of pure 100% joy spread across my girlfriends face.**

**"Do you love me?" I asked her, knowing the answer.**

**"I... I do. Do you love me?"**

**I nodded. "I do."**

**Her eyes were slowly un-focusing. She leaned into me a little more, but her grip on my hand was loosening. I was losing her.**

"I'll never truly leave you Danny." I heard myself say. Danny was the only thing I saw. He has basically just purposed to me- I loved the sound of him saying 'I do'.

"Liz?" He was moving me, shaking me. "Liz look at me!"

With my last bit of energy, I placed one hand on Danny's cheek. Thankfully, he held it there- I wouldn't have been able to keep it up without him.

"Please don't go, don't leave me." He begged.

"My time is up Danny." My voice was so soft, I wasn't really sure he could hear me. "But every second of it, every moment spent with you- I wouldn't change it for the world. You say you love me. I love you too. But do you truly, with your heart of hearts, love me?"

Danny nodded vigorously. "Yes. Yes, yes, yes."

"Then let me go." I let my hand drop to his charm. "Elizabeth Fenton..." I whispered. "I like the sound of that."

My vision went dark. But wait! I didn't tell him! No, no, no, no, no, no! I needed one more second, just enough time for one more sentence so I could tell him!

But I was too far gone. There was nothing around me but white light and numbness. All I could say was one last word.

**Liz seemed to be going intangible. Like she was dissolving.**

**I'd seen Phobos 'die'. I had seen Robert O' Conner 'die'. Liz was going in the same way- the way all ghosts went when they died; dissolving into nothingness before disappearing forever.**

**"Elizabeth Fenton..." She whispered. "I like the sound of that."**

**That was all she said. Then, she was on longer there. Her eyes were on me, but they didn't see me. Her hand was in mine, but it was lifeless. And so was she.**

**"Goodbye."**

**She might have said it, or it might have been my imagination. But I heard that fateful word, and she was gone, forever. Her body dissolved into nothingness, leaving my arms empty.**

**Every other time I had thought her dead, I had ever been able to truly believe it. There had always been a part of me that knew I would see her again.**

**I waited a moment for that same feeling to kick, to let me know she was still alive, that there was still a chance. But the feeling never came. Just a hollow and horrible ache in my chest.**

**It was then that I knew. Liz, my best friend and girlfriend, the most beautiful and strong and perfect girl on the planet was gone.**

**Elizabeth Marie Masters/ O' Conner was dead.**

**She left me and this time, for a fact, she was not coming back.**

**Reality hit me full in the face, and only did I come to that realization, did I start to cry.**

**Never again would her soft voice say just the right thing, never again would her warm embrace wrap around me and sooth me in the night, never again would her soft lips wake me up.**

**Never again would I see Liz.**

**Never again, would I ever be the same.**

**Epilogue**

**That day, no titans rushed to help the city as it was attacked. The local authorities were left to do it themselves.**

**No one in the Teen Titans Tower talked for a few days after that. They didn't smile for months.**

**After two months of not seeing the Titans, the city began to worry. What had become of their beloved heroes? Even the two new members were missed.**

**A little girl by the name of Ember never lost hope, and would insist to every negative person she met that their team was safe. No one believed her- she was just an innocent child blinded by what she wanted to be true.**

**But three months later, they had to apologize to the girl when their heroes addressed the public all at once.**

**That day, Robin, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and the boy the town had grown to call Phantom all showed up, clad in black. Phantom had his left hand in a cast and looked terrible. They all did.**

**Robin told the town what had happened- that they had lost a team mate who had been very close to them.**

**The town mourned with them, realizing the girl that had been at Phantom's side was no longer there.**

**The mourned, but they didn't truly know who they were mourning for. But the Titans did.**

**They were reminded every second of the team mate and friend they had lost.**

**They saw her in every vegetarian mean Beast Boy ate, heard her in every beautiful song. They were all heartbroken. The Titans couldn't seem to escape the memory of her- it haunted them where ever they went. But their torment came no where close to the torment of Danny Phantom.**

**For him, her memory was not confined to certain objects- it was everywhere.**

**With every breath he took, he felt guilty, wishing it had been him instead of her. He could no longer be in his room, for it buzzed with her memory. No matter what he seemed to do, he couldn't forget her green eyes, fighting spirit, so loving care.**

**Everyday he woke up, just to realize he was alone, and she was not there. He would see her in everything he did- in the video games he tried to engage in, in the meals he failed to eat.**

**Perhaps the most painful reminder were the stars that twinkled at night.**

**Danny would be awake most nights, memories and pain making it impossible to sleep. He would stare at the stars.**

**The titans would too, each with their own memories in mind.**

**At night, Robin would stare into the sky and feel guilty about the robot who had hurt Liz. He would think about it until the guilt would be too much, and the boy would fall asleep.**

**Beast Boy would look at the stars, and remember the way Liz's eyes had once sparkled. He would fall asleep thinking of her beauty.**

**Starfire would watch the night sky with tear rimmed eyes, thinking of how her friend had shared her passion for the color purple, and about they day the three girls had spent together. Starfire would let a single tear be shed before she would curl into a ball and sleep.**

**Raven would gaze at the stars and be confused. Liz had been such a good person with such awful luck- so why had she died at such an early age? Raven would stay awake, pondering the cruel mysteries of fate until her eyes could no longer stay open.**

**Cyborg would watch the stars and feel a weight on his chest. He had tried to find a cure for Liz, but he had had to be the leader while Robin was gone. Guilt would eat at him until he was forced to recharge his batteries.**

**The most painful, however, was Danny. The boy would stare into the heavens for hours. He would talk to himself and talk to her. He would ask her if she was happy, wherever she was. He would ask her if her life was better now. And he would ask why she had left him. And on truly hard nights, the black haired boy would curl into a ball and sob, begging for her to return to him, to end this pain. He would ask if he could join her, to be with her again. And he would cry for he missed everything about her. Every night was the same. His questions and conversations were always different, except for the last three questions he would ask. Every night before the dark clutches of sleep claimed him, Danny would ask three questions that couldn't be answered: Are you happy? Why can't I join you? Could I have done something to prevent this?**

**Those three questions haunted the boy, in his dreams, in his everyday life. And it killed him because he would never know. He would never know if his girlfriend was finally happy. He would never know why he couldn't join her in eternal piece. And He would never know if there was more he could have done to save her.**

**The titans saw her in every thing. Four months after her death, Robin called a team meeting. Everyone gathered in the hall- the very one she had died in.**

**"I know this is hard for us all," Robin had said. "Some more then others. But we're heroes. As hard as it is, we know this happens. With that said, we need to go back to our lives as best we can. We need to be the Teen Titans again. We... we need to let her go."**

**In that hall, there now hangs a plaque.**

**In loving memory of Elizabeth Marie Masters/ O' Conner**

**so suddenly taken from us at an early age**

**May her memory live on forever**

**R.I.P**

**As hard as they tried, the titans couldn't let her go. And they couldn't fix Danny's broken heart. The boy never spoke anymore- save his secret talks in the middle of the night. He never smiled, he never engaged in anything. He would never fight by the titans side anymore. He wouldn't eat. The Titans hardly ever even saw him.**

**Danny needed time to heal, and they were willing to give him that. They were concerned for him, however. He had never known pain like this, and it was bad for him.**

**But they hadn't know her like he had. They could never understand why Danny would wake up in the middle of the night, screaming. They could never understand why he could hardly live with himself. They wouldn't understand why he would lay awake at night, wishing for nothing more then to feel her lips on his, just once more. Or why his nightmares were so bad. They couldn't understand why he desperately craved just one last hug from her.**

**They would never understand why, in the dead of night, Danny would wake up, tears streaming down his face, a single word on his lips; Liz.**

**The Titans would never understand why, every time he passed that cursed hall, Danny would ask under his breath: why her?**

**No, they could never understand this pain. They could only watch their broken friend and hope that, in time, his shattered heart would finally heal.**

**Hope that, in time, he could finally let go of love.**

**THE END!**


End file.
